A Speedster in Green
by IssaMeGreenNaruto
Summary: All Might never lost the sludge villain, but Izuku did lose the chance to show his heroism to his greatest idol. But that wouldn't matter because Izuku was chosen. Not by All Might or One for All, but by the lightning that now courses through his veins. My name is Izuku Midoriya and I am the Fastest Man Alive...and I will become the greatest hero in the world. Nejire x Izuku.
1. Chapter 1

AN: Felt like writing a fanfic after all these years using this site. Let me know what you think!

Disclaimer: I own none of the referenced intellectual property.

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"No...I can't in good conscience admit that you can be a hero without a quirk. Pros are always risking their lives to fight villains. If you don't have the strength the do the same then... I'm sorry, you can't be a hero." Toshinori Yagi, a shriveled up blonde man, admitted to the young green-haired boy in front of him.

Izuku felt his entire world shattering at those words. Everything he dreamed about every night while going to bed was just destroyed by a few sentences uttered by the man that he looked up to more than anyone else, All Might.

"If you still aspire to save people...why not become a Police Officer? Villain custody is often thankless work but, it too is worthy of praise...you have to be realistic about what you can do, kid" Yagi walked past him.

"You have a lot to think about. I need to get this sludge villain to the authorities...I wish you the best" Toshinori reached into his pocket to make sure he still had the soda bottle he had filled the sludge villain in before stepping into the stairway to make his way out of the building.

Izuku simply collapsed to his knees on the rooftop 'I can't be a hero...even All Might said it...what am I supposed to do now?'

_It's best you give up_

_I'm so sorry Izuku_

'All my life I just wanted to be a hero. I always thought I could somehow do it even without being quirkless. Everyone always said I'd never be able to do it...but even All Might...even he rejected it.' Izuku clenched his fists.

'THIS ISN'T FAIR' he punched the ground.

'Why me?' he stared up at the sky. Dark clouds had started to crowd around the sky above him. Looked as if it was about to rain

_USELESS NERD. IF YOU REALLY WANT TO BE A HERO WHY DON'T YOU JUST JUMP OFF A ROOF AND HOPE YOU GET A QUIRK IN THE NEXT LIFE._

Izuku couldn't help but recall Bakugo's words earlier that day and gazed at the edge of the rooftop he was on.

_tap tap tap_

He didn't know how long he was there, just staring at the edge of the rooftop. When the rain started to fall he barely even registered it.

Slowly rising from the ground, Izuku slowly approached the edge of the rooftop.

'I can never be a hero without a quirk... it's all I wanted to do...I don't know what to do anymore.'

_You need to be realistic_

Izuku sniffled as a tear fell from his eye, walking even closer to the edge.

_You can't be a hero_

Izuku grit his teeth.

**BOOM**

A flash of lightning followed the crash of thunder. Suddenly a downpour of rain came crashing down at him.

Izuku jolted back at the sound. Suddenly finding himself at the edge of the roof.

His eyes widened in shock and he took a step back 'No... that's... that's not it' Izuku took a deep breath and sighed.

'Can't believe Bakugo really got into my head like that...' he shook his head and lightly smacked his cheeks.

'I need to go home...now' Izuku glanced at his watch and noticed it was almost eight 'What!? How long have I been here?'

The green-haired boy started to lightly jog his way towards the door All Might had used some time ago. Placing his hand on the handle he was about to open the door when-

**BANG**

Jumping up in surprise at the sound of the thunder, he stared up into the sky 'It really started to pour...I need to get out of here now. The forecast didn't even mention anything about rain tonight.'

Watching another flash of lightning split the sky, Izuku couldn't help but wonder how cool it would be to have a quirk that let him control lightning.

'I would be an insanely strong hero if I could do that, huh?" He thought morosely.

**CRACKLE**

'Huh?!' Izuku furrowed his brow as he stared up into the sky. He watched in amazement as bolts of lightning seemed to collect into a singular point above him.

**KKRKRKCKCKCKRKKLE**

The lightning started to circle around a small as it grew bigger and bigger.

'Is this someone's quirk? I was just thinking about that... it's not...me...is it?' Izuku couldn't help but slightly hope.

The ring of lightning started to grow and Izuku's ears started to ring as a loud buzzing sound started to burst outwards.

Hesitantly, Izuku raised his right hand upwards towards the sky and watched in amazement as the lightning seemed to crackle with more intensity and started to even shift through multiple colors.

Red, Yellow, Green, Blue, Purple. The sky flashed with every color as Izuku watched in amazement.

'Is this...really me?' he felt hope filling his heart again for the first time today since he was saved by All Might.

Izuku clenched his fist with his raised hand.

**BANG**

The sky flashed green before the lightning exploded and zoomed directly towards him!

"W-WAIT!" Izuku's eyes widened.

**BOOOOOOOOOOOM**

Nearly all of Musutafu jumped from where they were as they saw the largest bolt of green lightning in the history of lightning bolts slam against a building.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH" A scream rippled outwards just as the bolt of lightning fizzled out and lit the building on fire.

As the noise died down, sirens were immediately heard as emergency vehicles rushed towards the now burning building.

As for Izuku, there was no trace of him on the rooftop. All the firemen had found after putting out the fire was the burnt remains of a notebook titled "Hero Analysis for the Future #13".

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AN: First (mini) chapter done! Let me know what you think! I started writing this casually and have a few ideas of where the fic would go, but I am open to hearing any sort of criticism or ideas you would like to see. Although, I do already have the paring in mind. Nejire x Izuku! It won't be a harem if anyone is wondering. I've grown really fond of that paring and felt that it really needs to be written more - so here's my go at it.

See you at the next chapter!


	2. Chapter 2

AN: Here we go! Chapter 2! The beginning mini-chapter got a lot more attention than I thought it would! Thanks so much! I hope you guys continue to enjoy what I put out, I have a lot of ideas that I'm really excited to get started on.

Disclaimer: I do not own DC comics or My Hero Academia.

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Chapter 2

Inko Midoriya sighed sadly as she cleaned up her son's room again for the fourth time that week. It wasn't that her son's room was in any particular need of cleaning. In fact, the room was mostly tidied up to perfection except for the mess that Inko kept creating for herself to clean.

Her son hadn't been home in almost a week. And so, here she was at her wit's end cleaning up and messing up his room over and over again in an attempt to have some semblance of his presence in her life again.

Inko sniffled as she recalled the last week's events.

She nearly had a panic attack when her son was not home by the time she got back from work one day. Usually, Izuku would be muttering away to himself in his room as he scribbled into one of his notebooks when she came home, but she arrived at an empty apartment devoid of all activity.

It wasn't like Izuku to suddenly have plans after school - even doubly so for the normally respectful teen to have any without informing her way in advance. So she was at the brink of developing an aneurysm when her phone calls didn't even ring when she called him.

Inko immediately called the cops and rushed over to file a missing person report and demand that they find him immediately. The captain was trying to placate her and told her it was way too early to file a missing person report and that they had to wait until tomorrow to see if Izuku turned up.

It was just then when another officer came in and interrupted the mother from biting off the Police Captain's head.

_"Ma'am...you said your son's name was Izuku Midoriya, right? We found a notebook with his name on it in the building that was set on fire earlier."_

That sentence nearly made Inko pass out in fear before the policemen quickly assured her that they did not find any evidence of him perishing in the flames. The fire was taken care of quickly and there was no one was injured.

Ok, so her son was possibly still alive, but still missing. With renewed vigor, she started to demand the Police Captain to send out a search party to find her son.

Unfortunately, she still had to wait 24 hours. So, she returned the next day when her son had not shown up and she had driven herself crazy with worry all night. The police, finally relenting to her concerns, started an investigation. They even managed to get All Might involved once they had questioned him - the police saw that his autograph was the most recent entry in the notebook and thought to ask him about Izuku's whereabouts.

Her son met All Might?! His greatest Hero? They were even talking on the rooftop that was set on fire! What on Earth? She would be elated that her son managed to meet his favorite hero if not for the fact he was now officially missing.

All Might even came to her home and promised to do everything he could to find her son. He admitted that he felt somewhat responsible for not making sure that Izuku had made his way back home after their conversation.

Inko was grateful for his efforts, the man had run all around Musutafu to find any trace of her son - to no success, unfortunately. Even so, she could not help but be curious about why he was so invested in her son's return. Hero or not, this wasn't exactly something she expected the number one hero to dedicate so much time to. Even if he felt guilty for not telling her son to go home, that wasn't exactly his responsibility. Was there something else? Nonetheless, she was somewhat relieved that he was helping in the search.

'Izuku-chan...where are you? Please be safe,' she internally hoped as she once again started to make a mess in his room.

XXXX

Katsuki Bakugo grunted as he released another explosion on a pile of garbage at the junkyard he went to practice using his quirk. The U.A. entrance exam was in about ten months so he had to start seriously training to get in. He could see it now: Katsuki Bakugo, annihilating the entrance exam and being the only student from the shitshow middle school he was from getting in.

The blonde grinned in anticipation "DIE!" he blasted a pile of busted up tires.

'Take that you fucking nerd' he spat on the ground, he couldn't help but imagine Deku's crying face on each one of his targets - the bastard really did help in getting him fired up.

'Though...the idiot hasn't been to school in a while' he thought.

He would never admit it to anyone, but he was slightly concerned about Deku. He was usually always present in school, muttering to himself and scribbling in that damn notebook everywhere. For him to suddenly not show up raised alarm bells in his head. Of course, he couldn't bring himself to look into Deku's disappearance.

'It's not I care about whatever happens to that loser, he probably realized how fucking worthless he is and is moping around in his room' Katsuki sneered internally.

The explosion quirk user couldn't help but recall his words to Deku the day before he went missing.

_USELESS NERD. IF YOU REALLY WANT TO BE A HERO WHY DON'T YOU JUST JUMP OFF A ROOF AND HOPE YOU GET A QUIRK IN THE NEXT LIFE_

'Tch, he'd never actually do that. The nerd was a useless shit stain, but he would never do that…' Bakugo clenched his fists.

'Deku you better be back soon so I can smash your goddamn face in!' another explosion rocked the junkyard.

XXXX

"Agh" Toshinori Yagi shuddered out a pained groan as his Muscle Form dispersed, transforming him into his true shriveled up appearance.

He had just gotten back from another patrol, word had spread about his presence in Musutafu so crimes started to decline in the area. Even so, apparently some criminals thought they could still get away with their activities and so he had spent most of the evening cleaning them up.

It seemed a good amount of criminals thought he had left or just really didn't care. Nonetheless, they wouldn't be seeing much of the world for a while. Yagi imagined most criminals would move away from Musutafu after he went public with his intent to stay close to the city.

The shriveled up blond shook his head as his thoughts shifted to the real reason he was pushing himself.

'Still haven't found that kid…' Yagi was surprised when he was asked to come in for questioning by the police a day after he met Izuku.

Apparently he was the last known person to have talked to Izuku before his Mother reported him missing. He couldn't help but feel incredibly guilty. He knew it wasn't directly his fault that Izuku was missing, but he could have at least walked him down the roof and sent him home or something.

It didn't help that the roof they were on just so happened to be set on fire by a stray bolt of lightning after he had left. There was no trace of Izuku or anything suggesting what might have happened to him. All that was left was his charred notebook.

'He really adored heroes too…' He asked Inko if he could peruse the notebook for any clues about where Izuku might have gone. All Might couldn't help be impressed, if not a little creeped out, by the detail Izuku's notebook went into about different heroes and quirks he had seen. He was a true fanboy, but beyond that, he was clearly a genius when it came to quirks.

There were few people that All Might knew that was able to pick apart quirks as Izuku did, and it seemed Izuku did it all within seconds of observing his subjects too! And all without the aid of some intelligence-based quirk, All Might was really impressed.

Yet, he had still crushed the boy's dream. The number one hero frowned 'I really should have let him down easier.' His conversation with Izuku wasn't one of his best moments.

And so, he spent as much time as he could spare in his muscle form to jump around the city to go find the green-haired youth. Unfortunately, he hadn't come up with a single lead.

He couldn't help but think his words had something to do with Izuku's disappearance.

'No, that can't be it. Even if the kid decided to run away because of my stupid words he would have still left a trail or something. There's no way a kid like him could just disappear on his own without a trace.' Toshinori shook his head.

Taking a seat on his couch, he stared at the stormy skies through his living room window.

'There's something unnatural about his disappearance...I hope you're safe, kid.' the shriveled up blond thought before coughing.

XXXX

_"That's mean Kaachan! Look you made him cry!"_

'Huh?' Izuku jolted awake.

"Wh-where am I?" He swerved his head around.

The space around him kept swirling around him rapidly. It was as if he was in the middle of a hurricane full of spinning colors and lightning.

"A-am I d-d-dead?!" He panicked. Where was he?

_"I won't let you hurt him anymore!"_

Izuku snapped his head towards where he heard a familiar voice.

"W-what? Is a-anyone t-there?" He called out in alarm, his voice echoing across the bizzare void he found himself in.

_"You playing hero Deku?! You don't even have a quirk!"_

"Deku? K-Kaachan? Are you there?" The green haired boy called out, hesitantly taking a step towards the voice. How the heck was he even walking? There was no floor under him! Just more swirling colors and lights zooming by.

_"Get out of way Deku! Or else I'll blow up your face too!"_

Izuku faintly made out an image in front of him. It was a bit blurry but he saw himself as a toddler being beaten up by Kaachan and his cronies.

Biting his lip at the bad memory, he raised his hand towards the image and widened his eyes when it became more visible and clear.

"What on Earth is happening? Where am I?"

_"I am here!"_

He stepped back in surprise as the image changed to one of him in his old All Might onsie.

_"Sorry miss, but your son's quirkless, see? He's got two joints on his pinky toe. Latest research shows that linked to being quirkless"_

Izuku grit his teeth as the image changed again to show another memory. The one where he found out how could never be like All Might.

Suddenly, multiple images appeared and started to bombard him.

_"I'm so sorry Izuku!"_

_"YOU USELESS DEKU"_

_"I heard Inko-san's son is quirkless. How horrible for her!"_

_"Hahaha Midoriya get in U.A.!? Yeah, maybe when hell freezes over."_

_"You mean you've been the blur all this time! Izu-kun! How could you not tell me?!"_

_"My son's gone missing! Please, I don't know where he is!"_

_"Meddling when you don't need to is the essence of being a hero!"_

_"You'll make a fine skin suit!"_

_"Run Izuku! Run!"_

Izuku took another step back, startled. "What the..."

Even more images and voices started to appear all around him before whizzing away. He could barely keep track of any of it.

_A shark man tearing down a bridge._

_A giant gorilla looking over a large crowd of people._

_A strange bird-man creature smashing someone's bloodied face into the ground._

_An explosion rippling out of an Island in a wave._

"Wh-what! What is this supposed to m-mean?" Izuku felt as if his head was about to burst and covered his ears. A ringing sound started pound into his head.

_His mother hugging him with the proudest smile on her face._

_A cartoonish blonde teen grinning as he gave him a thumbs up._

_A young girl with white hair and red eyes giggling as she licked an ice cream cone an older version of Izuku handed her._

_A bloodied All Might limping away from a battlefield._

_A young cyan haired woman beaming at him with the brightest smile he had ever seen._

"I-I...wh-why can't...my h-head" Izuku collapsed to his knees as he covered his ears in pain, unable to continue to look at all the images.

Tears started to leak out of his eyes.

'I don't know where I am...someone...help'.

_"Sniff...Izuku...my son. Please...come home...be safe."_

Izuku blinked in surprise as he heard his mother. Cautiously, he looked up again. The pounding in his head started to fade.

'Another...vision? Mom?'

_Inko Midoriya was sobbing to herself softly as she held a picture of a young Izuku in her hands._

_"It's been a week now...please Izuku. Come back home. Did something happen to you? You're all I have left...sniff...please, don't leave me."_

"Mom" Izuku called out softly.

_"Izuku?!"_

_The vision of Inko looked startled and swerved her head around._

"Mom?!" Izuku shouted in alarm. She could hear him?

_"Izuku! Is that you? Where are you?" Inko ran out of her room._

"Wait, mom!" Izuku rose and reached out for the image of his mom. He grit his teeth when the image moved away from him.

_"I'm coming Izuku!" Inko rushed over to her front door._

Izuku started to run towards the image of his mother.

"I'm almost...there" he gasped. The image kept getting faster and faster as the vortex of lightning started to swirl around him chaotically.

Izuku paid no attention to just how fast he was running after the image of his mother. If he had taken a look back he would've been shocked at the bolt of green lightning trailing after him.

_Inko struggled with rushing to open the locks on her door._

"I'M COMING HOME MOM." Izuku shouted as he ran even faster, everything around him started to fade into a blank whiteness.

_"Izuku!"_

"I'M ON MY W-"

**BOOM**

Izuku felt something in him _SNAP_ as the world around him exploded and he saw black.

XXXX

"Izuku!" Inko shouted as she swung open her door.

"Izu..ku?" She trailed off as she stared into the empty hallway of her apartment building.

'I...I swore I heard him...d-did I imagine it?' she shut the door and slowly slid down to the floor.

"Izuku...where are you?"

XXXX

**FLASH**

A giant bolt of lightning split the sky.

**BOOOM**

"Mommy! I'm scared" a young girl shouted in fright as she pressed herself against her mother's legs.

"Don't worry honey, it's just lightning. Come, let's get home and get out of the rain, 'kay?"

"B-but what if the l-lightning hits us? Shouldn't we wait in the store?"

The mother smiled in amusement "Not to worry Akane-chan!" She pointed to a metal rod at the top of one of the tallest buildings around them to her daughter.

"See that long rod? They're called lightning rods! Men like Daddy built them to protect other buildings and people like us from the lightning! Lightning strikes the tallest thing around you see!"

"Oo! So the lightning can't hit us!"

"That's right Akane-chan! Now let's head home! Make sure to stay under my umbrella so you don't get wet!"

"Okay mommy!" The little girl smiled as she followed her mother into the streets.

**BANG**

A bolt of green lightning slammed into the middle of the crosswalk the woman and her daughter were just about to walk onto.

Lights from the buildings around them flickered as another trail of lightning zoomed away from the scene to an unknown destination.

The woman and her daughter simply stared at the smoking spot lightning had just struck at right in front of them.

"...Mommy I don't think Daddy and his friends are good at building things" the little girl mumbled.

Her mother didn't respond. After all, anyone being so close to a lightning strike was bound to lose their hearing for a good amount of time.

Fortunately, it was only temporary, and both of them would be just fine.

'THAT'S NOT EVEN POSSIBLE' the woman shouted internally.

Well, everything aside from the woman's faith in physics.

XXXX

Izuku didn't know where he was running. He couldn't really see where he was going, everything was simply a blur to him as he zoomed around. All he could think about was getting home to his mom. To get her to stop being worried about him.

He was coming home. And nothing was going to stop him from making his mom happy again.

Izuku suddenly felt his eyes roll into the back of his head.

**CRASH**

To an onlooker, it would have looked like a bolt of lightning just smacked into a young boy and caused him to trip over a ledge and land into a heap of trash across the street.

None would have expected that he himself was the bolt of lightning. Fortunately, or perhaps, unfortunately, no one was around to see such a thing. It wasn't until half an hour later when a couple was walking home from a date when they spotted Izuku sprawled out on the trash.

"Tanzuko-kun...is that a half-naked kid passed out in the trash?" One of the young men asked the other, his partner.

"Uh...yeah, is he...okay?" They drew closer to get a better look at Izuku.

The green-haired boy was still wearing his Aldera school uniform. Or, at least, what was left of it. The only thing that really remained was his right sleeve and a few strands of thread that kept the shirt on his back.

"He's all scratched up! I think he fell or something! Shiba-kun! Call the ambulance! He's got a really nasty bruise on his shoulder!"

"Got it!" They started to take a look at Izuku's injuries and sent him off with the authorities once they had arrived.

Izuku Midoriya had returned to the real world.

XXXX

A man dressed in a lab coat quickly ran through a dark room filled with faintly lit monitors and TVs. The man took extra care not to crash into anything as he made his way to an office in the back.

Knocking at the door, he bit his lip in concern at the flashing red alert blinking on most of the monitors in front of him.

"Come in" a smooth voice called out.

Taking a deep breath, the man stepped into the room, an office, which was even darker than the previous room. He could barely make out the edge of a cherry oak desk and the figure sitting behind it. His face was completely basked in darkness.

"Report" the man behind the desk demanded.

"Thank you, sir, there's...a bit of a problem".

"Out with it" his boss drawled causing him to sweat in nervousness

"W-well...a-after our...a-attempts last week...we s-shut d-down the experiment since it was a f-failure."

"Hmph."

The man took a deep breath "B-but. A few moments a-ago. Our instruments detected a surge of energy similar to...to the explosion that d-destroyed the cannon".

"How is that possible?"

"W-we don't know s-sir. The cannon was d-destroyed and so i-it not p-possible t-that it was u-us".

"Curious. See if you can track where the energy signature came from. Get some men to scope the area. Discreetly."

"Y-yes, sir. Immediately" the man in the lab coat bowed and swiftly left the room.

"What could this mean?" The boss asked himself out loud.

XXXX

When Tsukauchi Naomasa knocked on her door alone, Inko Midoriya was worried that he was going to tell her the worst. That her son was gone. Fortunately, the detective that was assigned to her son's case had potential good news.

Someone that looked her son was found. The only thing was...he was in the hospital.

So naturally, Inko did everything in her power to make Tsukauchi abuse his authority to speed on the road to get to the hospital as fast as possible. She launched herself out of the car as soon as he had parked.

"IZUKU!" Inko shouted to the hospital receptionist, as she threw aside the hospital doors.

"You see me, and what?" The receptionist asked back dumbly.

Inko growled and was about to leap across the desk and choke the receptionist when a hand reached out and gently grabbed her shoulder.

"Uh, she's looking for her son. Izuku Midoriya? He might not be listed on the system with his name. We got a report saying that someone matching his description was admitted to the hospital last night?" A man with short black hair in a brown coat smiled at the receptionist as he finally came into the building himself.

"O-oh. Sorry...do you have a description Mr…"

"Tsukauchi Naomasa, I'm a police detective." He whipped out his badge. "And this is Inko Mido-"

"He has messy green hair! Same shade as mine! His eyes are also emerald green and he has the cutest freckles on his face. He's only 14!" Inko impatiently interrupted.

"Ah! Yes, we did have someone admitted like that! You sure he's 14 though? Looked more like h-"

Inko reached over the desk and grabbed the desk and shook the receptionist around by her shoulders "ROOM NUMBER NOW".

"437!"

Inko disappeared towards the stairs in a blink of an eye.

Tsukauchi simply looked at the receptionist sheepishly "sorry about that, her son went missing a week ago" he admitted before walking after Inko. Hopefully, Izuku was in fact here and Inko didn't end up mauling some random kid.

XXXX

"Izuku! Naomasa-san! It's him!" Inko called out to the police detective down the hall.

Tsukauchi smiled in relief for the woman. He understood her concern, but Inko was very much a handful. She came to his office nearly every day hoping for some news on her son. Everyone in the station felt bad for her and did their best to console her.

Even so, they had a lot of cases to tackle and managing Inko and her worry for her son, while they understood her position, was really stressful. Tsukauchi had to stay overnight multiple nights this week to keep up with the work he had to push back due to Inko's visits.

Though, he was sure it was all going to be worth it once he saw the two reunited.

"Ma'am? I'm sorry do you need somethi-"

"GET OUT OF MY WAY YOU DAMN DOCTOR THAT'S MY SON!" Inko pushed a doctor to the side as she rushed into room 437.

Tsukauchi sweatdropped at the mother's antics.

Sighing, the detective pulled out his badge to show the doctor once he glanced over and confirmed that was, in fact, Izuku Midoriya and not some other green-haired kid that Inko was kidnapping.

"Sorry about that, that kid's name is Izuku, he went missing a week ago. That's his mother. Please excuse her."

The doctor nodded "I understand. No worries. I guess I should probably talk to her then."

Tsukauchi smiled and gestured for the Doctor to enter the room before him.

"Izuku? Can you hear me? It's your mom! Please, wake up!" They found the green haired woman holding the hand of the similarly green haired teen.

Tsukauchi couldn't help but grin at the scene. The family was finally reunited.

Though, he idly wondered if the picture that Inko and sent them to use as a reference for Izuku's search party was outdated. He could clearly tell that it was very much the kid in the picture Inko supplied them...but this Izuku seemed a lot older than in the picture.

Not a whole lot, but he had none of the baby fat he did in the picture. Izuku's face a lot more slimmed down.

Tsukauchi inwardly shrugged. Well, it didn't really matter.

"Doctor? Why isn't he waking up? Is he okay?" Inko rounded on the Doctor.

"He's been asleep since he was brought in last night! The tests and scans we ran didn't show anything off. Izuku is in peak health. I expect him to wake up sometime soon. But we should let him get his rest." the doctor assured Inko that Izuku was fine before turning to Tsukauchi.

"I understand that he was missing, but I would suggest we wait until he wakes up on his own and he regains his bearings before you question him about what happened to him."

Tsukauchi nodded and thanked the doctor "No worries. I just came here to escort Inko-san. We'll make sure he's left alone" the detective and the mother nodded causing the doctor to smile.

"I have a few more patients to check up on, Call me or a nurse using that button if you need anything!" She gestured to a button on the side of Izuku's hospital bed before excusing herself.

Inko grasped her son's hand and smiled happily "Thank you Naomasa-san. Thank you for finding my son!"

Tsukauchi smiled back "Of course Inko-san, it's what I'm here for." Thinking that he should probably leave them alone, Tsukauchi noted, "I should call All Might. I'm sure he'll be happy to know we found him safe and sound.

Inko nodded and replied without taking her eyes off her son "Tell him I appreciate all his efforts in helping me too."

"Of course" the detective stepped out.

"Izuku…you came back" Inko let out a tearful smile as she gently squeezed his hand.

XXXX

"You found him?" Toshinori sighed in relief "Thank god. Thank you for telling me Tsukauchi."

"Of course. Inko was grateful for your help too, by the way." His friend's voice noted through the phone.

Toshinori rubbed the back of his neck "Er...yeah. Of course...not that I really did anything."

"If you can spare any time, you should come by in person too! Knowing you, you probably want to see the kid alright for yourself, huh?"

"I- y-yeah. Maybe" Toshinori frowned, guilt lining his voice.

Sensing his friend's guilt, Tsukauchi sighed, "Oh come on Toshi, it's not your fault he went missing. We've been over this! There were definitely other forces at play. We'll find out for sure after he wakes up".

"I know... it's just...I killed that kid's dream...I don't think...I don't have a rig- no it's not that." The number one hero paused.

"I don't think...I have the courage to face him."

"Pfffhahahaha" Toshinori gained a tic mark on his forehead.

"Don't laugh at me! I'm serious!"

"The number one hero afraid to see a kid hahaha" Tsukauchi continued to chuckle through the phone.

"It's not that simple, okay! I really hurt that kid. I could see it in his eyes. How can I go there and pretend to be all buddy-buddy when his last memory of me is destroying his greatest dream?"

"Toshi. Look. I know you. And I know that until you get over this and face the kid yourself and talk to him again, you're going to kill yourself over and over again. Maybe the kid will be mad at you. Who knows? We'll deal with that if that's the case. But we both know that you're definitely not going to feel better if you just avoid them altogether".

"..." Yagi stayed silent.

"You know I'm right. Anyways, I didn't mean you come by right this instant. Let him and his mom make up for lost time. Then think about it."

"Dammit Tsukauchi, why are you always right?" The blond sighed as he rested his forehead against his hand. He could feel his friend's smirk through the phone.

"It's my job as your friend...anyhow, I've got to go. Think about what I said. See ya".

"Yeah...bye" Toshinori grumbled as he hung up.

Leaning against his couch the number 1 hero felt a huge weight lifting off of his shoulders.

"I guess I can now go back to what I came here for…" he raised his right hand and lazily stared at it "finding a successor".

He probably should go talk to the Principal of U.A. but he couldn't help but feel exhausted for some reason.

'Maybe tomorrow' he thought as he rested his eyes.

XXXX

Izuku groaned as his eyes jolted at the bright light shining on his face.

Rubbing out the bleariness in his eyes, he took a quick look around himself 'Am I... in a hospital?'

_Zzzz_

Sitting up, he looked to his left and noticed his mother passed out in a seat next to his bed.

Smiling at her concern at first, his face shifted to confusion 'but how...did I get here? Or better yet, why am I here?'

He tried to think back on what happened 'That sludge thing attacked me and then...All Might saved me and...right'.

He closed his eyes as he remembered All Might's words.

'So...someone quirkless like me really can't be a hero...I guess I shouldn't be too surprised.' he frowned.

'That still doesn't explain how I ended up here…did I get attacked again?'

"Mmhrm" Izuku turned to his mom as she started to wake up.

Rubbing her eyes, Inko muttered out a confused "Izuku?"

"Hey Mom, good morning...or...afternoon?" He glanced out the window to his hospital room and noticed the sun past it's apex 'Was I out all night?!'.

"IZUKU!" he felt air escaping his lungs as his mother frantically smothered him "You're okay!"

"M-m..om..c.. ca..n't.. ..the" he gasped.

"Oh! Oh my god! I'm sorry Izuku! I was just worried about you" she jumped off him. Before giving him a good look.

Grabbing his face with her hands she started to turn his head around and inspected him "You're not hurting anywhere are you dear?"

"Yeah mom, I feel fine!"

Inko sighed in relief and smiled "Thank goodness. You nearly scared me to death Izuku!"

He blushed "sorry…"

Inko frowned "Now…what on Earth happened to you?"

Izuku blinked "You mean… you don't know?"

Inko twitched "Izuku you've been gone for a week without any notice or anything. I thought you had been kidnapped!"

His eyes bulged out "A WEEK?" He shouted in alarm.

His mother frowned "What happened Izuku?"

"I...I don't know. The last thing I remember was talking to All Might and then...maybe a flash of light but...the next thing I knew I woke up here?" He said in disbelief. He had really been out for a week? And on top of that he was apparently missing? Where did he go? Why couldn't he remember?

"Ugh" Izuku grabbed his head as a wave of nausea washed over him.

'I feel like I forgot something important' he internally groaned. The more he tried to remember the more his head pulsed.

"Izuku! Are you okay? Should I call a doctor? Izuku?" He was shaken out of his thoughts.

"Ah, mom. No. I'm okay now I think... it's passing" he breathed slowly as he regained his bearings.

"Are you sure?" his mother placed the back of her hand on his forehead.

Frowning, she carefully guided him back to bed so he was laying down again "You're burning up sweetie. Take it easy."

Izuku couldn't help but frown "I don't remember what happened this past week, but I'm sorry I worried you mom."

Inko shook her head and smiled, "You came back safe, that's all that matters to me sweetie. Just rest up and I'm sure we'll be back home soon!"

Knock Knock

The mother and son duo look towards the door to Izuku's hospital room where Inko saw the doctor from earlier knocking on it with a smile.

"Ah! So you're finally awake! You've been knocked out since you were admitted last night."

Inko got up and bowed to the doctor "Thank you so much for taking care of my son!"

The doctor nodded "Of course, I'm glad he's finally awake! I just wanted to check up on him and see how fit he is to go back home!"

Izuku sighed in relief, he didn't really like hospitals so getting out as soon as possible would be fantastic. Carefully stepping out of the hospital bed, he paused when his mother gasped.

"Izuku!? Did you get taller?"

"Huh?" he blinked.

He looked down at his mother. Wait what?

He became taller than his mother about a year ago when he started his 2nd to last year at Aldera, but only marginally.

He was now a whole head taller than her and then some!

"What happened to you in that week?!" his mother cried out in shock. There was no way he could just hop to 5' 7" in just a week! Puberty or otherwise!

Dumbly staring at his hands, he thought, 'what…happened to me?' Not that being taller was something that he would complain about. He couldn't help but notice his body just felt different in general...like it had gotten stronger.

XXXX

A few moments later and Izuku's doctor was done checking all his vitals "Well...you're all fit to go to be honest. You had a few bruises and scrapes when you were admitted but it seems you've healed overnight...some regenerative quirk? She questioned the duo.

Izuku and Inko blinked in surprise, "huh? Izuku's quirkless though?" his mother responded causing him to slightly wince.

The doctor tilted her head in interest "Huh, you sure about that? I mean you didn't have any serious injuries, but still, bruises take several days if not weeks to fully disappear."

"Y-yeah, I-I had the x-ray done when I was a kid...no single joint in my pinky." Izuku frowned.

'She must be mixing me up with some other patient. No way my pinky toe would have suddenly lost a joint and gave me a quirk' he shook his head at the ridiculous notion.

"O-oh...well...sorry" an awkward pause. "Anyways, you're fit to go, I can let the nurses get started on the discharge paperwork and you'll be out in a few moments" the doctor gave one last smile before walking out of the room.

XXXX

After Izuku and Inko returned home, Izuku had internally groaned upon entering his room. All Might paraphernalia littered every inch of it, reminding him of the conversation he had with the number one hero. His room did seem cleaner though.

No longer feeling comfortable with all his posters and figurines anymore, he started to clear out his room of all his hero collector's items, much to Inko's shock.

He wasn't going to be a hero, and while he still thought they were cool, he really didn't want to spend most of his time in a room that kept reminding him of what he would never be able to achieve.

**A few days later.**

"Okay, Izuku! Make sure to call me once you arrived at school okay? I don't want you to go missing again! And then call me when you're on your way back! And when you get on the train! And when you've gotten home, okay!" his mother hovered around him.

"M-mom, I-I'll be okay! Don't worry!" He tried to calm down his frantic mother.

Inko bit her lip "Okay Izuku, b-but if you see anything weird, make sure to run and hide. Naomasa-san gave me his number so call him too if anything happens!" she texted him the police detective's number.

"Okay mom" he smiled at her, she really was overprotective sometimes.

"Oof" Inko grabbed him into a hug and squeeze "Mom...can't...br"

"Oh I'm so sorry Izuku!" his mom rubbed the back of her sheepishly.

Gasping for air slightly, Izuku sighed "I'll be careful. I'll you when I get to school. Don't worry!" he smiled and then opened the door to leave. Best to leave soon before she panics again.

"Stay safe!" he heard as he shut the door behind him.

XXXX

"Class! Welcome Izuku back! He just got out of the hospital a few days ago and is finally able to come back to school!"

_Silence_

Izuku awkwardly stood in front of his class as they stared at him uncaringly.

Coughing, his teacher waved him off, "Uh, right...why don't you go back to your seat Izuku."

"Heard he went missing until now...loser probably tried to run away or something" Izuku grimaced a he started to hear whispers from one of his classmates.

"Pfft, nah, he probably just tried to be a hero and knocked himself out or something" another snickered.

"Did he get taller though...he's like the tallest in the class now" he heard another whisper.

Izuku sat down in his seat and internally agreed. He did somehow grow taller in the week he didn't remember. But not all that. He hadn't noticed at first, but when he got home and took a shower for the first time in who knows how long, he got a good look at himself in the mirror.

Now, Izuku was not particularly unhealthy, he did want to be a hero back then so he made sure to be somewhat healthy and fit during the past few years.

But that didn't mean he was fit-fit. But when he looked at himself in the mirror, he nearly freaked out when he saw a lot more definition on his muscles.

He had abs too! He wasn't super muscular by any means, but he definitely put on some muscle mass. It was as if he was a pro runner or swimmer or something. It just added to the mystery of what happened to him in the week he couldn't remember a single moment of.

"Do you think he's taking steroids or something? I know he wants to be a hero or something even though he's quirkless, but that's just pathetic."

Izuku internally groaned, knowing it was going to be a long day. He glanced over towards the board and tensed. Bakugo, who sat in a row in front of him, had turned his body to face him and glared.

'Uh...did I do something to him?' he sweated nervously at former childhood friend.

"Hmph," the blond's glare intensified and became murderous just before he turned away.

'K-Kaachan? W-what'd I do?!'

**A few hours later**

The entire school day was extremely slow for him. His classmates kept whispering around him, during lunch, halls, and even in the bathroom. It was driving him insane.

He tried to go through the day on autopilot but even then, everything just felt too slow for him. He could have sworn he saw a bee's wings fluttering in slow motion through a window when he started to doze off.

"Oh! Izuku! Don't forget to get your plans for the future sheet back to me when you can! You have a lot of catching up to do!" His teacher interrupted his thoughts.

'Plans for the future...haven't even really thought about that at all' he had been doing everything to avoid thinking about that. All he wanted to do was to be a hero...but now...he obviously couldn't go for that. He didn't know what else he could do.

He packed his things and started to make his way home, 'I should call mom before she starts freaking out…' he thought.

"DEKU!?" Izuku flinched at the voice and slowly turned around.

His angry, former best friend, came stomping up to him.

"YOU DAMN BASTARD, HOW DID YOU GET SO FUCKING TALL?!"

"I-I-I d-don't kn-know?!" the green-haired teen backed up nervously.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU DON'T KNOW!? YOU SOME KIND OF IDIOT? WHAT'D YOU DO TO YOURSELF?" Bakugo grabbed Izuku by his collar and pulled him down.

"YOU THINK YOU'RE BETTER THAN ME BECAUSE YOU GOT LONGER TWIGS FOR LEGS? WELL FUCK YOU DEKU, YOU'RE STILL THE SAME QUIRKLESS LOSER I GREW UP WITH. WHERE THE HELL WERE YOU THE LAST WEEK?!"

If Izuku wasn't so afraid of Bakugo's anger, he probably would have sweatdropped at the now shorter blonde teen having to pull him down to be on the same level as him.

"I-I don't know!"

"WHAT KIND OF IDIOT DOESN'T KNOW WHAT HE DID THE LAST WEEK. WERE YOU IN A COMA OR SOMETHING?!" Bakugo shoved him back.

"I-" Izuku's eyes widened slowly as a mild feeling of vertigo overtook his senses. He could feel himself falling, but he couldn't move his body to catch himself.

Bakugo's face seemed to be frozen in sheer disgust and anger as Izuku felt himself slowly falling further away from him.

He managed to shift his eyes around and notices everything else also seemed to be frozen. Even the trees that reached over theme seemed stuck in time, the leaves on their branches completely still.

The feeling of vertigo suddenly vanished..

_Ow!_

Izuku fell on his butt, 'What...what was that just now?!' he thought.

"YOU IDIOT, YOU BETTER NOT DISAPPEAR FOR NO REASON AGAIN OR I'LL KICK YOUR ASS."

Izuku paid no attention to Bakugo, more confused with himself 'Did time just freeze? Did I imagine that?'

"YOU HEAR ME DEKU?!" Bakugo let out a small explosion near the green-haired boy, causing him to snap out of his thoughts.

"Huh? Oh y-y-yeah." he stuttered distractingly.

Bakugo huffed at him and growled, "Dumbass." Turning around, the blonde left Izuku on the ground.

The green-haired teen stared at Bakugo's back blankly 'What's up with Kaachan?'

Getting up, he shook some dust off of him 'I...I should get back home,' putting the weird feeling of vertigo behind him, Izuku started his walk back.

XXXX

"IZUKU?! WHERE ARE YOU?" Izuku flinched as he held his cell phone away from his ear, his mother's voice nearly imploding his eardrum.

"M-mom, I'm on my way home now," Izuku lied. He actually took a detour, not really wanting to go home yet. Normally he'd start browsing the web for hero news as soon as school ended but he really wasn't in the mood.

He heard a relieved sigh from his phone "I got worried, you got out of school ten minutes ago!"

"Yeah, I was going to call but Kaachan kind of...wanted to talk?" Izuku furrowed his eyebrows at his own worried. In a weird way, Katsuki Bakugo did seem worried about him, even if he was a lot more yell-y with his concerns.

"Oh, I see. Well, make sure you get home safely! Call me when you arrive" his mother demanded.

"Of course" he sighed, idly wondering when his mom would relax a little. He understood why she was being such a helicopter, but he really hoped she knocked it off soon.

Sighing, he hung up and stared at the sky 'More importantly, I really have to figure out what happened to me last week...maybe All Might knows something? Mom did mention he was helping to look for me' he thought.

He didn't really know how to feel about the number one hero right now. He still felt depressed every time he thought about their conversation, but Izuku did know the reasons for why All Might said what he did.

'After all, if anyone was in trouble, and I was in charge of protecting them...there's not much I could do…' he simply had been ignoring the obvious his entire life. He was never meant to be a hero. That was decided for him the moment he was born quirkless.

"Ah! Oh nonononno, not again!" Izuku was broken out of his thoughts as he heard someone yell from...above him?

Focusing back up at the sky, he saw something falling...a person?

Izuku's eyes widened, it was a person! They were falling from the sky! They were going to land onto the ground and hurt themselves!

Just then Izuku felt another wave of vertigo wash over him. This time, it only minorly disoriented him.

Everything slowed down again. He looked around in shock as the person falling in the sky slowed down too. It was if they were sinking into a pool of molasses.

'This...again? What's...happening to me?' he thought in confusion.

Feeling a little jittery, he looked down at his hands 'What...the..' his hand was vibrating?! Shaking?

'What's happening to me?!' and suddenly the feeling left him as time caught up again.

"Aiiieee!" Izuku's eyes widened as he saw the person falling again.

He suddenly broke off into a run towards them, the feeling of time slowing down once again overtaking him.

'I got...them' he managed to get directly below them.

'Wait...is that a girl?' he thought as he looked up at the woman falling, she was still a good ten feet above him. Her face showing fear as she slowly fell face first towards him.

'She's...pretty' he thought.

Suddenly time resumed at normal speed.

'Oh, shi-'

**CRASH**

* * *

AN: And done! This chapter wasn't very action-packed, but it certainly had to be written to get things rolling. I hope you guys enjoyed it! Let me know what you all thought in a review!

I should get a beta-reader though, I tried to go through and get rid of typos and such, but I've always been bad at catching my own mistakes...I also tend to skim through things when proofreading because it's not a very fun part of writing for me. It doesn't help that some of my laptop's keys are a bit funky and don't always register. If anyone is interested in the role, shoot me a pm!


	3. Chapter 3

An: Alrighty! Another chapter! I'm honestly a little surprised at the amount of positive attention this fic has been getting - thank you all so much for reading and letting me know your thoughts! I really appreciate it. It certainly pushes me to keep on investing time into it.

I would also like to take a moment to thank KyrosVasera for beta-ing this chapter. I really appreciate it!

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the intellectual property referenced in this fan-written story.

Without further ado...

* * *

Chapter 3

"Oh shi-"

CRASH

Izuku groaned from the impact. Did he really just stand there and let that falling girl land on him? He was supposed to catch her! Not just watch her fall on him.

Wait. Girl. Fall. Land. Him?

He opened his eyes to see a girl staring back at him with curious royal blue eyes.

"Hi!" She chirped at him.

Izuku felt his face start to burn as if someone set it on fire.

'G-g-g-girl' he thought in shock.

A girl was talking to him!

"H-hi?" He whispered back causing her to smile brightly. The green-haired teen couldn't help but feel a sense of deja vu wash over him. Had they met before?

She had really pretty eyes, he couldn't help but notice.

"Is your hair naturally green? Why are you so red? Do you eat a lot of tomatoes? Do you have a tomato quirk?" He blinked as she started to chatter off.

Izuku's eyebrows shot up as he started to feel someone running their hands through his hair.

"How did you get her hair so fluffy! It's so soft! What type of shampoo do you use?" Izuku suddenly recalled that she was laying on top of him.

His entire body started to radiate, if someone saw him at night they might've thought he had a glowing quirk of some kind.

"Wow you're really warm! Do you have some kind of fire quirk? Is that why you're red?"

"U-Uhm. I-I" he stumbled, "You f-fell" he managed to get out.

"Yep! And you caught me! Thanks for that!" She beamed at him again before furrowing her eyebrows in concern. "oh wait! Are you hurt?" She asked in worry before immediately getting off of him.

"I'm so sorry! You didn't break anything when I fell on you did you?" She started to pat him up and down to check for injuries.

'AIIIEEEE' Izuku internally shrieked.

With a massive blush on his face, Izuku quickly sat up, "N-no I-I'm okay. I t-think" he said as he finally got a good look at her.

She had cyan blue hair that seemed to go all the way to her knees. She seemed a little shorter than he was, but he couldn't really tell as she was kneeling next to him. She was wearing a deep blue spandex suit of some kind with white lines running across it. He couldn't shake the feeling that he saw her somewhere before...

The girl sighed in relief "Oh thank goodness! Sorry about falling on you! I finally figured out how to use my quirk to fly and I got really excited and then flew away from class and then I accidentally flew into a bird and it got mad and started to peck at me and I lost control and then I fell straight down right on top of you!" She spoke a mile a minute.

'Class? Quirk?' he thought.

"Wait are you training to be a hero!" He asked in awe.

"Yeah! I'm a student a U.A.!" She exclaimed.

"U.A!? The top hero school!? That's amazing!" He looked at her with stars in his eyes.

"Yup! I'm a second-year!" she grinned with pride "I'm gonna be one of the best heroes once I graduate!"

"So cool!" Izuku exclaimed causing her to giggle. Suddenly, his eyes widened and he pulled out a pen and notebook.

"What's it like to go to U.A.? Is it true you have Pros as your teachers? What type of hero stuff do you learn there? What exactly is your quirk? How does it make you fly?" Izuku bombarded her.

Nejire blinked in surprise before a wide smile etched itself across her face 'This must be what it feels like when I bug people with questions.'

"Are you a hero fanboy or something?" She asked teasingly.

Izuku couldn't help but feel bashful "U-uh y-yeah. I've loved heroes since I was a kid and wanted to be just like one."

She giggled again "Are you also enrolled in a hero school then? Which one? What kind of quirk do you have?"

Izuku grimaced "Oh...I'm still in Junior High. I really want to go to U.A. but...I-I don't have a quirk." He paused.

Remembering the feeling of vertigo and time slowing down around him from earlier, Izuku looked at his hand, perplexed, 'or do I…?'

The girl looked shocked 'In Junior High!? But he's almost as tall as Mirio! He looks like he'd be my year or older!' she then recalled his last sentence before frowning slightly.

"O-oh. I didn't know…" the cyan haired girl trailed off awkwardly before shaking her head.

"But that doesn't mean you can't be a hero, right?" Izuku's head snapped up in shock.

"H-huh?" He stared up at her in confusion.

"I-I mean...you just saved me, right! If you hadn't caught me my face would have gotten splat" she waved her arms around in the air, "that makes you my hero!"

Izuku looked at her in shock before a small smile spread on his lips "Y-yeah. I guess so…" he didn't so much as catch as her as he did break her fall though...

Smiling a megawatt smile at him, the girl stuck her hand out, "My name's Nejire! Nejire Hado!"

Izuku reached out and shook her hand "Izuku Midoriya!" He grinned back, her positivity was really infectious.

"We should probably get up before people think we're crazy! Are you really in middle school?! You look way too tall for that to be true!" She exclaimed as she stood up and dusted herself off.

Izuku scratched the back of his head "I had a growth spurt recently, I'm in my last year though" he admitted as he also got up. Turns out he was taller than her by a few inches.

"Oh! You should apply to U.A. then!" She jumped up in excitement.

'Apply...to U.A….I mean that's what I wanted to do before I met All Might but…' he thought internally.

_That makes you my hero!_

Izuku couldn't help but recall her earlier words, a small smile playing at his lips again "Y-yeah, maybe!"

'I also need to figure out that time slowing down feeling. Maybe I'm not as quirkless as I thought, but I'll have to check somehow to be sure. Was it some kind of mutation? I mean my pinky toe can't suddenly lose a joint so that should mean I'm still quirkless, right? Unless science is wrong and having a quirk has nothing to do with your toes. Either than or it's not a perfect relationshi-'

"Hey! You okay? Watcha mumbling about?" Nejire had been watching the green-haired boy for the last few seconds. She had only told him he should apply to U.A. when he started to zone out and began to mutter to himself about something. She thought it was kinda weird but couldn't help but admit he did look pretty cute with the way he was so focused.

"Hu-huh? Oh!" Izuku panicked. He had been talking aloud?! "N-nothing. Um. Thanks for the suggestion. I-I'll have to think about it" he waved his hands around nervously as he recomposed himself, causing her to giggle again.

"A-anyways, Hado-san! I forgot to ask! Are you okay? You fell from pretty high...You're not hurt are you?!" he asked in worry.

Nejire blushed slightly at his concern "Y-yeah! I'm completely fine! Not a scratch on me." Izuku sighed in relief.

Nejire was surprised that she wasn't hurt herself though. She had gotten a little carried away when she finally was able to stay in the air longer than she had ever been able to before. She had been practicing all summer and her labor finally bore fruit. And so, to the dismay of her teachers and classmates, she had flown right out of the field they were training in excitement to test her abilities. She was so happy at her achievement she had flown pretty high up without even realizing it until she lost control.

By all logic and reason, she should have been a bloody mess on the ground with Izuku heavily injured. Just when she thought she was going to meet her end, she felt the oddest sensation. It was like she was falling down a straw and just before she reached the end, someone was sucking her back up "the straw" before letting her fall.

That might have been a weird way to describe it, but Nejire couldn't really think of a better way to describe what she felt. In any event, she was fine, aside from a few scratches. She wasn't going to complain about a miracle like that.

BZZT

Just then, Nejire heard her phone vibrating from her pocket. Smiling apologetically at Izuku, she picked it up.

"Nejire! I've been trying to reach you for ages! That was incredible with how you flew around like that! It was super POWER!" Izuku could hear excited chatter from Nejire's phone. He was just about to ask if Nejire was sure she wasn't hurt when the girl had picked up her phone. The poor boy awkwardly stood around, not sure what to do with himself.

"Mirio! Yeah! Sorry I flew away. I just got so excited!" the girl replied happily, jumped up a few feet before hovering back down slowly. Izuku's eyes widened in awe as he started to write in his notebook quickly.

"Aizawa-sensei is really mad though...he might give you detention" Nejire heard another voice from her phone.

"Aw don't worry about it Tamaki! Sensei is a softy! I bet he's really proud of you Nejire! He'll probably be super grumpy when you get back though…" the previous voice exuberantly exclaimed.

"He's muttering about problem children who break the law...you should get back soon Nejire" Tamaki whispered across the line.

Nejire internally sweated, Aizawa was going to kill her, "U-uh y-yeah. I'll c-come back s-soon. I fell, but I'm okay! I'll get back as soon as possible!" she assured her friends before hanging up.

"Sorry about that! They must have been worried when I flew off…" Nejire sheepishly smiled.

"No worries! I know what that's like. My mom has been going crazy about where I've been ever since I went missing last week" Izuku waved her off. He had been theorizing about what kind of quirk she might've had while she was on the phone.

Nejire blinked in surprise "You went missing?! How? Where'd you go? Are you still missing?" she gasped "You're not running away from home are you?"

Blinking in surprise, the green-haired teen shook his head. "Long story" he replied.

Izuku nervously smiled before hesitantly continuing, "U-uh. A-actually...I was wondering...I-I like analyzing quirks. I th-think they're really cool! I know you probably have to go back to U.A. and all...but do you think you can tell me a-about your q-quirk someday? I-It looks really in-interesting." he asked nervously.

Nejire stared at him for a few seconds causing the green-haired teen to sweat internally 'Was that too weird?! Did I just creep her out?'

"Sure!" she beamed at him happily, causing him to sigh in relief.

'Oh thank god, she wasn't creeped out' he thought. Nejire suddenly stepped up to him and put her hand out expectantly.

"H-huh?"

"Your notebook! I need to give you my number right? How else are you going to call me?" she winked at him.

"O-oh!" his face erupted in a blush before holding out the book.

Taking the notebook from him she glanced at the page he was writing in earlier. A small blush appeared on her face as she looked at the image of her face he had started to draw 'he's really good at sketching…' she thought before quickly writing her number on the page. She then handed him his notebook back.

"Th-thanks!" Izuku stuttered, still blushing.

Nejire smiled at him "Make sure to call me okay! I'm so curious about how you went missing!" she exclaimed.

"U-uh yeah!" he sweatdropped, honestly he didn't even really know what happened to him.

"I should get back before my sensei decides to expel me! It was nice meeting you! Thanks again for saving me!" she waved to him before running off.

'I probably shouldn't risk another fall today' she thought.

"B-bye" Izuku watched as she turned a corner before something hit him.

_HE HAD TALKED TO A GIRL_

_A REALLY PRETTY GIRL_

He looked down at his notebook.

AND SHE HAD GIVEN HIM HER NUMBER.

BZZT BZZT

"Huh?" he was pulled out of his shock as his phone rang. Picking it up, he winced when he heard his mother's panicked voice rang out.

"Izuku?! Honey? Are you home? You didn't call me!?" his mother frantically shouted from the other side of the line.

'Oh shoot, it's getting a little late, how long was I talking to that girl?!' he thought.

"Izuku?!" he heard his mother say worryingly.

Smiling in exasperation at his mother's concerns, Izuku reassured his mother that he was fine before hanging up.

Turning back towards the direction of his apartment building, the teen frowned as he stared at his right hand again, slowly gripping it into a fist.

'More importantly...what was happening to me today? It happened when I was trying to save that girl...but I swear it also happened when Kaachan pushed me down earlier' he thought contemplatively as he started to walk back home.

'There was no way I was imagining it right?' he thought. 'Hado-san was too far for me to have run to in time to break her fall if time didn't actually slow down, right?'

He felt a small glimmer in hope arise in his chest. Did he really have a quirk then? What exactly was it? Slowing time?

'No' he thought. 'If it was just slowing down time, then I probably wouldn't have been able to move much at all.'

He felt a lightbulb go off in his head 'A speed quirk then? Was I going so fast that everything seemed to slow down?'

It seemed plausible. Super-speed would explain how he could still move freely during the episodes of slow-motion he had experienced so far.

Izuku took a deep breath before he looked around him.

Spotting an alley a block ahead of him, the teen quickly made his way near it and poked his head in.

'Clear' he thought in relief.

Taking a step in, he readied himself.

'Quirks are technically illegal to use in public unless you have a license of some kind' he thought.

'But if I do have a speed quirk, then the only way to test it is outside. I don't have access to a training facility. And I need to know if it's true' he thought as he got into a runner's stance.

'Of course. If I don't have a quirk, then it's not like I'd be break the law anyways' he tensed, 'So it won't hurt to try!'

And with that, Izuku set off into a run.

"AArrrrrhhhhhhh" he yelled as he ran as fast as he could.

'Come on come on. Activate!' he thought as he ran down the alley.

'I know I wasn't imagining it! Something happened to me last week. Something that activated a quirk in me! I just have to figure it out. I know I have a quirk! I KNOW IT' he yelled in his thoughts.

Like a wave, Izuku felt a surge of energy wash over him as everything around him started to slow down.

"AHHHRHHHH!" He shouted as he zoomed through the alley. Bystanders tightly held onto their loose articles of clothing as a green blur suddenly sped past them, leaving a gust of wind in its wake.

'I...I was right!' Izuku thought in absolute glee 'I HAVE A QUIRK.'

He felt the widest smile spread across his face.

'This feels…incredible' he thought 'I feel...incre-' Izuku's eyes widened as time suddenly snapped back to normal.

His foot tripped over an uneven part of the street below him. 'Oh nononono-' Izuku felt his body twist around in the air as he jettisoned across the path and slammed into a pile of trash.

"Urghh" he groaned in pain as he tried to push himself out of the trash pile.

Checking himself over, he was relieved to see he was mostly unharmed. A few bruises were probably in his near future though.

Slowly, a grin took over his face.

'I HAVE A QUIRK!' He thought with exuberance.

Lifting himself off of the ground. The green-haired speedster gained a determined look on his face as he settled into runner's position again.

'Gotta get used to my new quirk, right?' he mentally excused his lawbreaking behavior.

'Next stop, home' he thought in anticipation.

_WOOOSH_

Musutafu was about to see a rise in wind speed.

XXXX

Nejire sweated nervously as she saw the U.A. building approaching from her window seat on the bus she was on.

She chose to take public transportation back to school. After all, it wouldn't do to nearly fall to her death by accident again if she had tried to fly back.

She might not have an Izuku to break her fall the next time, after all. The cyan haired girl giggled at the memory of his flustered face after she had given him her number.

She had spent more time talking to the green-haired boy than she thought. But she was happy to make another friend! Especially one who seemed super interesting!

'I wonder what he meant when he said he went missing' she thought. She really wanted to hear more about him, but she knew she was going to be pushing Aizawa's patience if she made herself more late.

U.A. had been holding a special quirk training class at the end of their regular classes. She was sure it had ended by now. So she was most likely heading back just to be chewed out by the teachers.

"This is U.A., please exit through the rear doors" Nejire heard an announcement ring out from the bus.

Sighing, she got off. Ready to face her fate.

"Hey! Nejire! You made it back!" Mirio waved at her as Tamaki followed after him. Both of them seemingly have just left the building and were on their way home.

"Glad to see you okay!" Mirio grinned as he ran up to her.

Nejire smiled at the sight of them, "Hey guys! How'd the rest of the class go? Manage to make any progress with your quirks? Did it just end? Or are you leaving early? Is anyone still there?"

"Yes…" Tamaki answered simply with a whisper from behind Mirio's back.

"Eh? Come on Tamaki-kun! You gotta tell me more than that!"

"Well we wouldn't need to if you didn't just fly off!" Mirio laughed boisterously.

Nejire looked abashed and huffed, "I was just so excited okay! I practiced all summer to learn how to fly and I thought I got it down pat just then! I wanted to see the city from the skies!"

"...Did you really fall?" Tamaki asked.

"Yeah! I'm okay though! Someone caught me!" She then added in her mind 'sort of.'

"Good to hear! You're not hurt are you? Sensei won't be lenient even if you are!" Mirio reminded Nejire of her upcoming scolding.

"Err...no I'm not…" she groaned "I guess I better go talk to him then."

Mirio and Tamaki looked at her in pity "Let us know how it goes, I need to head on home. You coming Tamaki?"

"Yeah. Bye Nejire" the dark-haired boy whispered.

The two waved her off before walking away. Nejire bit her lip as she looked on ahead. Aizawa was standing in front of the entrance to the main building of U.A.

'HE'S SO SCARY' She thought as his eyes flashed red at her.

Accepting her fate, the cyan haired girl drearily trudged over to her teacher.

XXXX

"Huff...Huff" Izuku panted as he finally made it back home.

Of course, it didn't take him long to get home. Not with newfound quirk.

Izuku let a happy smile stretch onto his face at that thought. He was really fast. Like. _Really fast._

Because of his quirk. His very own quirk.

He didn't know just how fast he was exactly, but it felt incredible as he ran. He still hadn't managed to master activating and sustaining his quirk. But he had certainly gotten used to it more. He managed to get home without any more crashing. A few stumbles here and there as his quirk hitched every now and then, but nothing too bad.

'I need to write about this!' he thought. Immediately digging through his backpack for his notebook. The same one Nejire had written in.

He paused as he took a look at the book. It was a brand new notebook. He hadn't intended to start another quirk analysis book. He wasn't in the mood to do so after meeting with All Might.

'I guess old habits die hard.' he thought. He got too excited and started writing preliminary notes on Nejire's quirk before he knew it.

Of course he didn't have much on her yet, so he spent most of his time starting a rough sketch of her, as he did with all the heroes in his books. He blushed slightly when he saw her phone number written down next to the sketch.

Shaking his head, Izuku turned to the next page, 'I should text her so I can fill in her entry later, I guess.'

Grabbing a pen, Izuku prepared to write an entry that he thought he never would.

An entry about his quirk. Placing the pen down on the paper, he was about to write when he thought.

'Should...I get special paper for this? Maybe a nicer pen?'

Izuku shook his head at his ridiculous thought and focused.

'... I'm going to get a nicer pen for this.'

He never thought he'd do this, okay! Let him be extra.

XXXX

Inko Midoriya felt her very soul relax as she spotted her son scribbling away in one of his notebooks at their dining table when she arrived home.

It seemed things were finally going back to normal, much to her relief.

"Izuku? I'm home" she called out.

"Hmmm? Oh! Mom" Izuku shot her brightest smile. She hadn't seen him this happy since he was a child.

Confused, but happy, Inko stepped over to her son, "Everything alright? How was going back to school?"

Izuku grinned "Everything's great mom!" The green-haired teen looked like he was going to burst from excitement.

"O-oh. Well, did something happen?"

Her son's grin somehow grew even wider at her question.

Mildly creeped out by her son's exuberance Inko simply got to the point, "Why are you so happy? Not that I'm complaining, dear…but, you're acting a bit odd."

"Mom!" He started to rock back and forth on the dining table chair. "I have a quirk!"

"W-what?" Inko blinked in surprise "Izuku, what are you talking about?"

Izuku jumped out of his chair in excitement. "I have a quirk mom! I just found out about it today!"

Inko sputtered "wh-what. B-b-but the doctor said you were quirkless?"

"I don't know! Maybe it just had to take some time to manifest! I'm a mutation! Look!" Izuku took a runner's pose.

"Izuku what are yo-" Inko was interrupted by a blast of wind rushing over her.

BAM

"Ough" Izuku groaned as he slid down a wall in his living room.

"I-Izuku?"

"I-I'm okay! It's just hard to show off in small spaces!" Her son awkwardly laughed "But see mom! I have a quirk."

"Izuku all I saw was you running into a wall" his mother deadpanned.

"Agh! Okay um. Come with me!" Her son grabbed her hand and started to drag her out of the apartment.

Inko worryingly followed her son as he led her outside. Was he okay? She knew that her son desperately wanted to be a hero, but he wasn't deluding himself into thinking he had a quirk did he?

Inko had heard of quirk mutations and late bloomers before, of course, but both were incredibly rare. The oldest someone had ever developed a quirk, even as a late bloomer, had been 10. She knew it was theoretically possible for it occur even later, but she couldn't help but be skeptical. For the sake of her son's dream, however, she really did hope he wasn't deluding himself

"Okay! Um. I can't fully control it. But I think I can make it work. I managed to do it in the apartment so…" shaking his head, her son hopped from one foot to the other, seemingly warming himself up.

They were outside on the street below their apartment complex. Izuku had taken her to the end of one block.

"My quirk - it makes me super fast! I can probably run to the other end of the block in less than a second!" He explained.

Inko just nodded. Nervously waving at some of their neighbors as they curiously stared at the mother-son duo.

"Alright!" He got into a runner's pose again. "Here I….go!" Izuku broke off into a run.

…

Inko frowned as she felt her fears coming true. Her son was simply running at a decent pace away from her.

'Izuku... I'm so sor-huh?!' the mother gaped as a rush of wind blew past her and her son vanished before her eyes.

"Where…?" Her eyes widened as she recognized a spec of green all the way at the end of the block.

"Izu...ku?"

_Woosh_

Inko stepped back, startled, when her son suddenly appeared in front of her, nearly tipping over and falling.

"Wa-woah" he stumbled for a moment.

"I'm still getting used to it hehe. But see!" Izuku smiled brightly at her.

"You...you really do have a quirk?" Inko stared at him in awe.

"Yeah! I know right!" He grinned.

Inko loved her son. More than anything. She wouldn't trade him for the world. And that was regardless of whether or not he had a quirk. She was worried for his sake for that last few years because she knew that all Izuku ever wanted to be was a hero. And so she grew more and more stressful thinking about the day her son might come home in utter despair upon realizing he could not be the hero he wanted to be because he was quirkless.

So when she cried at the new revelation. It wasn't because she no longer has a quirkless son. That didn't matter to her. She cried tears of joy because she no longer had to fear for that day. Her son would not be robbed of his dream. He could become a hero. And that made her happier than anything.

"Izuku!" Izuku blinked in surprise as his mother embraced him in a crushing hug and bawled her eyes out.

"This...sniff... it's incredible! I'm so happy for you!" She cried.

"Th-thanks mom" Izuku replied, startled.

"You can be a hero!" Held him tighter.

"Ye-yeah" he hugged his mother back.

_You're my hero!_

Izuku recalled Nejire's words from earlier, a smile playing at his lips.

"I _can_ be a hero."

XXXX

"Izuku...do you think your quirk has something to do with why you went missing?" Inko asked her son causing him to pause.

He had been writing about ways he could work on improving the use of his quirk when his mother asked the question.

"Uh...m-maybe" he didn't really think about it until now. But the timing was suspicious, he admitted internally.

"You haven't remembered anything new yet?" His mother asked worryingly as she stirred a pot, she was preparing dinner for the two.

"Nope" he frowned "Actually...I forgot to ask. Did All Might say anything about what might have happened to me after he left? You said he was helping out in the search for me, right?"

"Yeah. He mentioned you guys talked on the rooftop, but he didn't see you after that" Inko replied "What did you guys talk about anyways?"

Izuku pursed his lips. "I...I uh , just had some questions for him, you know. Him being a hero and all."

He didn't really know how to feel about All Might right now to be honest. Sure, he was happy he had a quirk, and would be able to become a hero. But was that all that made him hero-worthy? What does it really mean to be a hero? According to his conversation with All Might, it just meant being able to fight with a strong quirk. Izuku didn't really know how to feel about that.

"Maybe you can ask him? He was really worried about you. He came over to apologize and make sure I was alright multiple times when you were missing. Even if he doesn't know anything more, I'm sure he would be happy to see you okay" Inko continued.

Izuku blinked 'All Might...came here?'

"I have Detective Naomasa's number, I could maybe get you in touch with him if you want? They're apparently good friends!"

Izuku hummed in thought. 'Well, at the very least. Maybe I can ask him about how to train my quirk?'

"Yeah that sounds good mom," Izuku replied. His mom nodded and mentioned she'd get in touch with the detective soon.

It's not every day you can get some advice on training by the number one pro, right? Even if the green-haired speedster wasn't fully sure on how to feel on All Might anymore, his advice might still be useful to help him get into U.A.

'Oh! That girl! She's from U.A.! Maybe I can ask for her advice too!' Izuku thought.

He turned his notebook back to the first page and glanced at her sketch.

"Oh! She's cute!" His mom proclaimed from behind him.

"Wagh!?" Izuku shouted in surprise.

"Who is she?" She asked with a smile.

"Uh-uhm. J-just someone I m-met to-today!" Izuku stuttered.

"Mmm okay. That was her number there though, right? Izuku...Did you forget to call me earlier today because you were busy flirting?" His mom teased.

"Uh- mmh- I. No- I mean" he garbled out nonsense in response causing Inko to laugh.

"Mom!" He whined.

She giggled, "Alright Izuku, put your things away. Let's eat!"

XXXX

Katsuki Bakugo was really really pissed for some reason.

Actually, he knew the reason: Deku. Something was wrong with that guy.

'Seriously? How does he just grow like half a foot in a week?' he grumbled. Deku being taller than him was really annoying.

But his height wasn't the main thing that annoyed Bakugo.

The blond was currently sitting in class, the green-haired boy he was internally grumbling about sitting in the desk behind him.

Izuku was being very content with his life. And that confused Bakugo.

Normally Deku was a nervous wreck, an easy prey for Katsuki to squash. But the explosion quirk user found that Deku seemed to develop a backbone over his week-long absence.

Not to mention, the green-haired idiot was acting so fucking weird.

Bakugo would catch him smiling to himself every now and then as if he had just won the lottery. And it was seriously pissing him off. It was like Deku was floating through life without a care.

He'd tried to corner the idiot during the past few days, but Izuku had simply nervously excused himself before rushing away. Eventually, Izuku just started to vanish immediately after the school bell rang like he had never even been there. Bakugo didn't even get a chance to blow up at him.

Katsuki grit his teeth 'It's like he thinks I'm not worth his time or some shit' no one waved off Katsuki Bakugo. _No one_.

Some of his classmates started to sweat in fear at the aura Bakugo was leaking out.

Izuku didn't seem to pay any mind to it though, seeming like nothing around him mattered as he continued to write in his notebook nonchalantly.

Whatever was going on with Izuku, Bakugo really didn't like it. He really just wanted to punch that damn nerd's face in.

If only he could actually get the chance.

When school ended that day. Bakugo chased after Izuku to try and confront him. Unfortunately, Izuku had magically vanished, just as he had multiple times earlier that week.

XXXX

Izuku grinned as he quickly turned around a corner, narrowly avoiding crashing into a pile of junk.

'My response times are getting better' he thought with pride.

Ever since he got his quirk, he had been pushing himself to master it. There were roughly 9 months until the U.A. entrance exams would be held. He had to catch up with all his peers in how accustomed he was with his quirk so that he could get in.

And so, Izuku found a suitable place to train his quirk: Dagobah Beach.

He was worried, at first, about not having a suitable place to train. Since he needed a large space to run around, his primary concern was that he would be prosecuted for illegal quirk usage in public as Izuku was worried he wouldn't find a private open space he could just use for free. But the beach had suited his needs just perfectly. It was littered with junk and refuse that nobody ever went near the area. Not the best circumstances for the environment, but it did provide Izuku the perfect place to practice. Especially given the junk that was lying around provided a good opportunity for him to build an obstacle course.

He had spent the very first day on the beach attempting to activate his quirk at will. He was happy to say that he finally figured it out.

Originally, it activated sporadically when he moved. The teen figured it was because his body wasn't used to having a quirk, and so it took him a while to find the trigger to activate it.

On the first day that he found his speed, he noticed it mostly activated when he thought about running. But the first few attempts would only be successful at will only after he had a running start for a few seconds.

But that changed on the second day. After a few sessions of muttering and theorizing in his quirk-book, Izuku had tried different approaches to thinking about his quirk.

Originally, when he practiced running fast, he thought about going faster as he ran. Much like pressing a gas pedal on a car. Izuku was thinking about accelerating over time.

But that's not how his quirk worked. Not quite. Upon reviewing the notes he had taken on all the his experiences he'd had so far, especially the one where he saved Nejire and the feelings of vertigo, Izuku realized he wasn't thinking about his quirk correctly.

His quirk wasn't acceleration. He wasn't just running faster over time. He was just fast - regardless of if he was moving. He saw everything fast. His entire body and mind was just fast when he activated his quirk. Hence the slow-mo vision episodes.

And so he got rid of the "pressing the gas pedal" attitude he had at first, and instead viewed his quirk activation as a trigger mechanism.

Of course, it was easier said than done. If anyone had been watching him they would've sweatdropped at how many times he had pushed himself off into a run with a constipated face in the beginning as he willed his quirk to activate.

It wasn't until he gave up on his running start and instead tried the will the world to slow down that he started to get a better grasp on activating his quirk.

And it had paid off. He no longer struggled in activating it.

The green-haired boy had been beaming with such happiness upon his success it seemed as if the world around him just grew brighter.

**Crash**

Izuku groaned as he crashed into a refrigerator that had been dumped on the beach.

Of course, he then realized his next problem pretty quickly. Although he was fast and perceived the world in relatively slow motion, his reflexes weren't always fast enough to respond to his obstacles as he ran.

And so that's why he had built himself an obstacle course, to train his reflexes and maneuverability when he went super speed.

'I've gotten better...but it's not enough' Izuku rolled his arms around one by one, trying to roll out any kinks in his shoulders.

'Another issue is that I might also just be getting used to the obstacle course…' he thought as he stared at the beach that was littered with a random assortment of junk. He wasn't sure if his improvement was because his reflexes had improved or if it was him developing muscle memory of the obstacle course.

'It would definitely help if I had someone else to throw stuff at me to respond to. That way, my reflex training doesn't become predictable' he placed a finger on his chin in thought.

'Of course, it'd be even better if things were being fired at me at super-speed' He thought.

Unfortunately, there wasn't anything else he had access to that he would be able to train his reflexes with. The only thing he could think of was running into a bullet storm between the authorities and criminals and try to avoid them all. Something told him that was probably not a good idea. He also wasn't sure if he was faster than a bullet anyways.

'If only I had someone to train with who also had super-speed' the greenette thought.

He paused before a far fetched idea grew in his mind.

XXXX

"Mom! I'm home!" Izuku announced as he closed his apartment door behind him.

His mom poked her head out from a room in the hallway "Izuku! Welcome back! How'd training go?" She responded in a nasal voice.

Izuku sweatdropped at the clothespin she had pinched onto her nose 'I guess you really start to smell after a few hours in a junkyard, huh' he thought.

His mom had finally seemed to relax a little about his whereabouts. She was still worried about his safety, but she stepped down from the helicoptery role she had occupied the week before. It took him a while to convince her to let him train his quirk alone on the beach, but she calmed down a lot once he had mastered activating his quirk. After all, if he had got into trouble, he now had the power to run away at will before anyone would realize it.

"It was alright! But I actually have a favor to ask?" He started to walk over.

"Nuh uh! Go shower first!" She scrunched up her face in disgust before swiftly retreating to her room and shutting the door.

Izuku sweatdropped again before sniffing himself. "URGG!" He gagged.

Yeah, shower it was.

XXXX

Toshinori, in his true form, bit his lip as he glanced at the "Call Ended" screen on his phone.

'So the kid wants to talk to me…' he thought before sighing.

He hadn't meant to avoid the kid. Not that he would ever really be accused of avoiding anyone. He was All Might after all. He was out saving the world and stuff. He was just busy.

He wanted to talk to Izuku when he found out he had been found, but he couldn't help but remember the kid's disheartened eyes as he broke his dreams to pieces during their last conversation.

He didn't know if he could apologize for his words as he still believed that being quirkless would be near impossible to be a hero. Admitting anything other than that might give the kid false hope, and the last thing All Might wanted to do is be responsible for Izuku accidentally getting himself killed in an attempt to be a hero.

The reason he wanted to see Izuku was to just see him safe. He didn't know why, but he felt attached to the kid despite the short amount of time he knew him.

'Maybe... it's because his story is a little like mine' the blonde man thought. He had been quirkless once too.

Even so, he couldn't help but keep imagining Izuku's broken and disheartened eyes whenever he tried to convince himself to visit the kid. As such, he made an excuse not to go see him every time.

All Might seemed fearless when it came to punching villains and putting his life on the line, but the man was incredibly awkward when it came to some social interactions.

And going to talk to a kid that went missing for a week immediately after he had crushed his dreams made him feel - dare he say - anxious.

And now the kid directly asked his mom to ask Tsukauchi to ask him to meet with him if he had time.

'Look at me, the number one hero having anxiety over talking to a kid! Master would be laughing her ass off at me' he thought before sighing.

He grabbed his phone and texted Tsukauchi to ask if he could get Izuku or his mother's number.

In another part of the city, a cyan haired girl was mildly annoyed that she hadn't gotten any texts or calls from one Izuku Midoriya. She had forgotten to get his number so all she could do was wait for him to reach out to her or run into him again.

'What did he mean when he said he went missing last week?! Ugh. I wanna knoooow' she whined internally.

* * *

An: And there's chapter 3! Izuku and Nejire met! He discovered his powers! How fast do you think he is? Things will really start to kick off soon! Let me know what you all think so far!


	4. Chapter 4

AN: Yoo-hoo! Back again with another chapter. Some people have been asking about my update schedule. To be honest, there isn't a consistent schedule. I mostly started this fic because I was bored and haven't found a temp job yet (I just graduated college and am moving to a new city for a job in a few months, so I needed temp work until I moved). But I just got hired for a full time temp position so my time is a bit more limited. I'll have to see where I can fit in writing with my new schedule. I do not intend to give up on this fic! But there is some adjustment i need to do on my end before I can sort out an actual schedule.

Once again I thank KyrosVasera for his tremendous aid in beta'ing this chapter!

Without further ado...

* * *

Chapter 4

Izuku gulped as he stared at the muscular form of the number one hero, All Might. It had been a couple of days since he asked his mom to get them in touch.

He wasn't sure if All Might would actually agree to meet with him, but he guessed his mother was right about the hero being worried about him.

The green-haired teen had been nervous in the moments leading up to seeing the famous hero again. He wasn't really sure why.

All Might seemed a little uncomfortable himself, Izuku could vaguely make out the look of guilt on his face as he stared at him.

'Does he feel bad because I went missing…?' the boy thought curiously, yet also somewhat surprised.

The blonde hero coughed before looking around them. Izuku had asked the man to meet him at Dagobah Beach after he finished school. It would be a private place for them to talk and give Izuku the space to show the man his new quirk.

"I guess... there's no point in holding this form, huh?" The blonde hero grunted before he expelled in smoke, shifting into his true form.

"I'm glad to see you safe. I was worried when I couldn't find a trace of you…" he trailed off.

Izuku shook his head at the hero "I-its o-okay...I uh, I'm alright now" he awkwardly replied.

"Good." A pause. He was relieved to see the boy alright. If anything, the kid seemed more than alright.

Catching himself staring, All Might internally growled at himself 'Come on, he's just a kid! Why are you so acting so weird!?'

"So…" he started, "where did you go?"

Izuku lightly scratched his cheek, "U-uh, actually. That's part of the reason I wanted to talk to you" he admitted.

All Might raised an eyebrow.

"I-I don't remember much after you left…The next thing I knew, I was at the hospital."

All Might frowned, "So you're wondering if I knew anything about what might have happened to you after I left?"

Izuku nodded "Y-yeah, did you maybe hear or see anything?"

Toshinori sighed, "Sorry kid, but this is the first time I've seen you since I left the rooftop.

Izuku sighed in disappointment.

"You really don't remember anything?" The blonde questioned, causing Izuku to shake his head in the negative.

'Could this be the work of some villain? But what would they want with him?' Yagi thought in confusion.

"The most I know of about what happened after I left, is that there was a fire on the rooftop." The hero admitted, "I got worried when I first heard about it, but the police hadn't found any sign of you being there when it started."

Izuku nodded "Yeah, my mom told me the same thing."

"Actually, that reminds me...I have something of yours" Toshinori dug into his pockets and pulled out a charred notebook.

Carefully, he handed it over to Izuku, "The police found this left behind after the fire had been put out. Your mom let me borrow it to see if I could find any clues about where you went. Didn't find much on that, but I gotta admit, you really have a talent for analyzing quirks" the blonde finished awkwardly.

Izuku took the charred book carefully, a soft smile on his face "...thank you" he looked up and saw another guilty look on the other man's face.

Frowning, Izuku bit the bullet "Y-you're...feeling guilty about what you said to me that day...and about me going missing... aren't you?"

"Erg!" Toshinori grunted in surprise, 'Well, he is remarkably perceptive...the book is proof of that'.

"What I said was hars-"

"True" Izuku cut him off, causing him to stare at the boy in surprise.

"I-it was t-true" the greenette admitted, "I thought about it ever since I woke up. You're not wr-wrong. Being quirkless means you are powerless against villains."

"Midoriya...I"

"To be a hero is to protect people, no matter what. That's why I wanted to be one. It wasn't ever about beating villains for me. Maybe that's because I didn't want to think about that part when I was quirkless…" he looked up at Toshinori.

"S-so I u-understand where you're coming from. There is only so much I'd be able to do to protect people if I was facing a vi-villain" the greenette paused for a moment. "What you said made sense, when I thought about the dangers heroes went through. I understood why you wanted me to think about what was in my reach...to think about being a police officer or something to serve and protect people."

"So you're not wrong All Might! And you don't have to feel guilty," he finished, staring at All Might.

Toshinori was taken aback at Izuku's admission. But couldn't help but agree with him 'He's... really mature for his age...huh.'

"That's...th-that's actually the other reason I wanted to talk to you" Izuku began."Something happened to me when I disappeared last week... that's why I wanted to know if you knew anything." Toshinori raised an eyebrow at the boy.

Izuku suddenly vanished from his line of sight. The blonde's eyes widened as he felt a rush of wind blow past him. Turning around, he gaped at Izuku who had somehow appeared behind him in a blink of an eye.

'What! Did this kid just teleport?'

"I have a quirk now...I don't know how, but I know it had something to do with my disappearance" Izuku dropped the bomb.

'How...what? He said he was quirkless before... it's unheard of a quirk developing this late naturally. That's...not possible is it?'

All Might stumbled for a moment "How…?"

"I-I don't know. I thought maybe I was a late bloomer, even if it seemed unlikely...but…the timing is a bit suspicious. I go missing and then, boom, pop out with a quirk" he laughed awkwardly while rubbing the back of his head.

Toshinori wasn't laughing, or even smiling, as he listened to Izuku. His thoughts were in a frenzy.

'Kid goes missing for a week with no memory of it...and then gets a quirk? He's right, that is way too suspicious...it couldn't be him...could it?' Yagi frowned in worry.

"Midoriya, are you absolutely sure you don't remember anything? Not even a moment?" Izuku gulped as a shadow seemed to cover the blonde man's face.

"U-uh N-no. Th-the n-next thing I knew was w-waking up at the h-hospital" he replied nervously. Why did he suddenly seem so intimidating?

Toshinori sighed "I believe you...but the moment you remember anything. You need to tell me, okay."

"H-huh? Do you know something? Is it bad?" Izuku panicked.

Toshinori shook his head "No, don't worry. Just come to me as soon as you remember anything" he replied, a bit more firmly.

'It can't be him... right? He couldn't have survived…and...he wouldn't just give Midoriya a quirk, right? What purpose would that serve him' Toshinori thought in concern.

"U-uh All Might! A-are you okay?" He was broken out of his thoughts.

"Yeah…I'm okay…" he replied, clearly distracted.

Izuku frowned, knowing the hero was lying but decided not to push him. He had a favor to ask after all.

Coughing to get the blonde man's attention he nervously began, "um...s-so...the main reason I want to t-talk to y-you…" he paused for a moment, "uh...now that I have a quirk...I want to be a hero...one that can protect people from villains. A-and. I was wondering if...if you could help me train me in my quirk!" Izuku closed his eyes and waited.

Toshinori paused as he looked at Izuku. 'He wants me to train him?'

Thinking for a moment, the man asked, "Why?"

Izuku opened his eyes and nervously started to play with his hands "Uhm...well. I've been practicing using it. A-and I think I'm getting the hang of it but...I don't think I can get used to it completely in time for the U.A. entrance exams."

"So you want to get into my old Alma Mater, huh?"

"Y-yeah! I want to be the greatest hero in the world...to save people with a smile on my face...just like you do! And to do that, I want to go to U.A.! Just like you once did" He admitted.

Toshinori felt a sense of deja vu, recalling similar words from the boy during their conversation on the rooftop.

"So...why should I train you? Don't you think it's a little unfair to the other applicants?" The blonde man asked.

Izuku flinched and stared at the ground "Yeah

...you're right. It is a little unfair...but...everyone else...they had most of their lives to train using their quirks...I just got mine and barely understand it. I just figured out how to activate it at will, and even then, sometimes it disperses on its own. I don't know anyone else who could help...and I'm a mutation so I can't even ask my mom for advice because our quirks are different...so I'm stuck trying to figure it all out on my own." He clenched his fists.

"Everything I try training with isn't enough. I need my reaction time to keep up with my speed. I built an obstacle course to help with that but all it did is make me memorize the course. I need an actual teacher. Someone to keep pushing me, and to spar with. Until then, I'm limited in what I can teach myself...you were the only person I thought who could actually help me" Izuku stared up at All Might.

"I have to work a lot harder to catch up with all the other applicants. But right now I just don't have the resources to do that. And so all I can do...is ask for your guidance...even if it isn't as a full-time trainer, If I could just spar with you or just get advice from you from time to time...that would be enough."

Toshinori silently stared at the boy in front of him 'He's really put in the effort, huh?' he sighed.

Izuku frowned upon hearing the hero sigh. "Yeah... it's selfish…I shouldn't be here begging for you to teach me. I should keep trying until I get it right" the green-haired boy shook his head. "I'm sorry for wasting your time All Might. I appreciate you taking the time to talk to me" he bowed slightly before turning to walk away.

Toshinori sighed again "Kid, hold up. I didn't say no."

Izuku paused "huh?"

"Geez kid, you really like rambling to yourself and deciding things before you even hear the other side, huh?" The blonde shrugged. "I understand where you're coming from…you remind me a lot of myself back when I was young. Learning a whole new quirk on your own isn't easy."

"Y-you mean?" Izuku looked on with hope.

"I haven't decided yet." Toshinori shook his head. "But what you've asked…it's understandable given your situation. So, I'm going to think about it."

Izuku's eyes started to glisten before he started to bow up and down rapidly towards All Might "Th-thank you!"

"Calm down kid, before I decide, I want you to tell me everything about your quirk, and what you've done so far to train it...and why you think I would be able to help."

"Y-yes, sir!" Izuku happily cried before launching into an explanation of everything he had done.

'It bothers me that he doesn't remember a single thing about his disappearance...but I don't think his quirk has anything to do with All For One...even if he were somehow still alive, It's not like him to give a random kid a quirk. Plus, Midoriya is far too invested to be a hero to be a part of any plot with him...right? Nonetheless, at least this way, I can watch over Midoriya and make sure nothing happens to him.' Toshinori thought to himself. 'But still...what happened to him then? To suddenly make a quirk appear in him at such a late age…it really is unheard of.'

The blonde stared at Izuku as he recounted the last week. 'Could it really be some miracle...or is there something else at play?'

XXXX

"You're wasting my time, there's nothing interesting here. Just let me leave already." A white-haired man with white eyes and light pink skin growled into a phone as he pounded a table with his fist. His arms had curious white streaks running along where his veins would be.

"Sorry, the boss demanded that you stay at your post for a few more days."

"Seriously? What happened around here that you guys are so dead set on making me watch the streets of all things?"

"As we've discussed, sir, we had reports of suspicious energy readings in the region about a week ago. You're to report back on anything peculiar you might see" a voice from the other end of the phone line responded.

"Well, I've seen nothing. There's nothing here. And what's this energy reading you keep spouting about? How am I supposed to know what's peculiar if I don't even know what I'm looking for!"

"The device we provided you should be able to find the source of the energy signature we detected."

"That thing stopped working after day two. It took me to some broken up street and went crazy for a while. Now it doesn't even react. It was pretty goddamn annoying though."

"...and you neglected to report this?" The voice on the phone sounded irritated.

"I didn't know what the thing was beeping for. Thought it was broken or something. God, when that Giren fella told me he had a job for me, I thought I was gonna do some heist or something exciting. Not watch some fucked up street for a week."

"You said the device led you to that street. Did you at least find out what happened to it?" The voice on the phone ignored the white-haired man's complaints.

"Heard some people talking 'bout lighting hitting it or something. I dunno" he shrugged.

"...curious. We'll have to keep you there for another few more weeks then. Keep the device with you at all times. Make sure to leave it on and let us know if you find anything."

"A few more weeks? I'm practically dying from boredom! I don't wanna do this shit no more. At least tell me why you're making me do this!"

The man heard a sigh from the phone. "We'll double the normal rate."

"Triple!" He demanded.

"We'll meet half-way. Report if you find anything" the white-haired man growled as his phone call got dropped.

Grumbling himself he started to walk through the room his temporary employees had rented for him.

"stupid organizations and their dumb secrets." He grumbled to himself. Scratching his right arm, he twitched when a flake of skin peeled off.

"Ugh, I need a swim." He muttered.

XXXX

"So...you want me to punch you really fast" Toshinori deadpanned. They had been talking for some time, the sun had nearly set now.

"Well...as fast as I can handle. You're the only person who I think could force me to train my reflexes. Everyone else would be slow motion!" Izuku exclaimed.

The greenette gained a thoughtful look on his face, "That's honestly the biggest thing. I need to build up my spatial awareness. My speed will only be so helpful if I can actually react to what's around me. And even though I start to see things in slow motion, I can't always respond fast enough."

"And I'm guessing the obstacle course doesn't really help because you just remember where all the obstacles are?"

Izuku nodded "yeah! I need someone who can surprise me in super-speed!"

"But why don't you just spar with people at normal speed? If you're just trying to train your reflexes, wouldn't doing it at your base work too?" Toshinori asked.

Izuku shook his head, having thought of that, "When I'm running around in superspeed, my body doesn't move the same way as without it. There's more air resistance and drag I have to consider.'

The blonde hummed in thought. 'He has a lot of potential...there have been speed-based quirks in the past, but none that seemed to make the user feel like time slowed down around them.'

All Might folded his arms over his chest "Alright, Young Midoriya" he started.

Izuku straightened up, "Yes?!"

"I'll help you out" the green-haired teen beamed at him and started to repeatedly bow to the blonde man again.

"Thank you All Might! I'll do my best to learn from you!" He shouted.

"But, I can't train you full-time" All Might continued.

Izuku looked up and nodded "I understand! I wouldn't want you to overexert yourself and waste your time! I-I appreciate any time you can lend me!"

Toshinori twitched 'Overexert myself? Does he think I'm an old man!?' he coughed out blood.

"AHH!?" Izuku shouted in horror. Waving his arms around in a panic, he asked, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, yeah" he wiped his mouth. "Anyways, I came to do a job in this city, so I can't always be around to help. But I can help you sort out a plan to help you prepare for the U.A. entrance exam. But it'll be up to you to follow it."

"Y-yes, sir! I'll do my best!" Izuku shouted in determination causing Toshinori to grin.

"That attitude!" The blonde hero transformed into his muscle form and pumped up his fist in a pose "I LIKE IT!"

Izuku's eyes widened in awe at seeing his favorite hero at full power.

"Young Midoriya! When I'm done with you, you're gonna ace that exam and leave everyone in the dust!"

"Hai!" Izuku also pumped up his fist.

Smoke covered the symbol of peace as he transformed back.

"Though I am still curious about your disappearance...have you tried to jog your memory?"

Izuku tilted his head in thought before nervously laughing, "I...I uh, actually got caught up in the excitement of getting a quirk that I haven't really tried."

Toshinori couldn't help but slightly smile at the kid. "Well, you should give it a shot. The last thing you remember was our rooftop conversation, right? Maybe if you go back there you'll remember something?" He offered.

Izuku gained a thoughtful look on his face before nodding "You're right! I'll give it a shot."

Toshinori nodded, "You should head home now, get some rest. Take my number so we can keep in touch!" Izuku's eyes widened in shock as he handed over his phone.

"I'll text you when I can start training you, so keep an eye out" he finished as he handed the greenette his phone back.

Izuku stared at the digits in absolute reverence 'All Might gave me his number!? This has to be a dream' he pinched himself.

Toshinori sweatdropped 'A fanboy to the end, huh?'

"J-just don't go spreading it around okay?"

"O-of course n-not! I will protect it with my life!" He saluted.

"Uh...yeah, okay." The number one hero started to walk out the beach before pausing for a moment.

"Midoriya... I'm really glad you're safe" Toshinori turned to look at him briefly before smiling.

Izuku smiled back and nodded as the man transformed into his hero form again and jumped off.

'So cool…' Izuku thought before glancing at his phone and hopping around in excitement 'I really can't believe I have All Night's number! I need to show mom!'

XXXX

'That took a lot longer than expected' Toshinori thought to himself as he soared over the city, 'guess I'll have to push back my meeting with Nezu again' he sighed.

He had come back to Musutafu to teach at his old school for one main purpose - to find a successor. He and the principal of the school were supposed to meet to discuss possible candidates to inherit his quirk but between the principal's busy schedule and his random acts of heroism along with the situation with Izuku, the two haven't been able to meet yet.

'I guess it's not the end of the world. I'm still signed up to be a teacher at U.A. next year so I wouldn't be deciding until I meet them all as a teacher anyways…' he thought. He was a bit nervous about teaching though.

'I guess helping out young Midoriya will be a good way to figure out how to teach' All Might never really gained any teaching experience. His own hero education felt extremely rushed due to him having to focus on finding a way to take down All For One, so he couldn't even look back at that for reference.

'Honestly, the only thing I really remember about my days at U.A. was Gran Torino beating me up over and over again' he shivered at the memory of his old teacher before a thoughtful look overtook his features.

'Gran Torino...I wonder how he's doing...hmm maybe I should introduce him to young Midoriya. Both of them have speed-focused quirks so he might be helpful to the kid' he thought to himself.

'Although, he only ever became a teacher because of Master's request to train me. Wouldn't hurt to try though right? What's the worse that could happen? Another beat down?' Toshinori gulped, '...Maybe it's too early to introduce them…'

Yeah, he should try working with Izuku on his own first before thinking about introducing him to one of his old teachers.

Also, Gran Torino was probably going to be really annoyed with him for not visiting him earlier and Toshinori didn't have the guts to deal with that right now.

Not that the number one hero would ever admit that to anyone.

XXXX

The Next Afternoon

Nejire hummed to herself as she walked alongside Mirio and Tamaki with a bounce in her step. They had just gotten out of school.

"So! How are you guys feeling about this work-study stuff? Who are you gonna apply for?" The blonde U.A. student grinned at two of his closest friends.

Nejire started to add little skips to her step, "oh oh! I don't know! There's just so many heroes that I don't even know where to start!"

"I'm surprised A-Aizawa-sensei didn't take that privilege away since you flew away from class" Tamaki curiously looked at the cyan haired girl.

"He threatened to…but then he said something about how it'd be more troublesome to keep me around" Nejire pouted causing Mirio to laugh and Tamaki to snicker.

"What did he even make you do?" Mirio asked.

Nejire huffed, "He forced me to tie a bone to my back and let loose a bunch of dogs at me and took a nap while they chased me around for like two hours every day after school for the last week."

"... that's so mean" Tamaki sympathetically smiled at her.

"Wow! I bet your stamina increased from that though!" The blonde grinned.

Nejire tilted her head in thought, "I guess! I can now fire off about two or three more beams after flying around a bit!" She smiled to herself in pride.

"Hah! Sensei is really rough around the edges, but all he was doing was just giving you extra training!" He punched the air."At this rate, we're gonna be the best students at U.A.!" He exclaimed as his friends smiled at him.

"Oh!? But what about you guys? Did you find an agency to do a work-study with Tamaki? Mirio? Which one? Who's it with?" Nejire questioned.

"S-some heroes w-with d-diet-based quirks were interested in me because of the sports festival l-last year...might go to one of them" Mirio beamed at Tamaki at his response.

"That's awesome Tamaki! You're gonna get crazy strong by training with any one of them!"

"...maybe" the dark-haired teen whispered back.

"What about you Mirio? Do you already have one?"

Mirio rubbed the back of his head "I'm not sure yet. I'm doing some research later to see who would be good for me...but I still don't have the best control over my quirk yet so I've been focusing on that!"

"Ooo how's that going? Did you make any progress yet? Why don't you just reach out to one of the heroes that offered you an internship after the sports festival last year?" Nejire fired off.

"I got used to phasing through objects, but I occasionally mess up if I'm trying to do it really fast! And it's still hard to figure out how to change the direction I go when I'm bouncing out of the floor" the blonde admitted before laughing to himself "and...not many people wanted to work with me after I accidentally flashed everyone on tv during the festival" he sheepishly rubbed the back of his head as his friends laughed.

"But this next sports festival! We're gonna ace it! I gotta good feeling about it" the blonde cheered them on.

"...yeah" Tamaki nervously nodded.

"Come on Tamaki! Be more confident. Give me a POWEERR!"

"...power…" the dark-haired teen whispered.

"POWER! You too Nejire…huh?" The two males looked towards the direction that Nejire used to be. She had disappeared!

"Nejire?"

The two U.A. students looked at each other in slight confusion before shrugging and making their way back home. She was probably fine. It wasn't the first time she had disappeared like this.

XXXX

Nejire had been following along with her friends when she saw a familiar head of green hair across the street they were walking through.

Squinted her eyes, she tried to get a better look at the green-haired person's face before her eyes widened.

"It's him! I found him again!" She beamed in excitement before skipping over to the green-haired figure, completely forgetting about Mirio and Tamaki.

"It's been a while!" she thought in anticipation. She was going to interrogate him.

XXXX

_Sorry, I have to meet with an acquaintance today. We'll have our first training session soon, I promise. In the meantime, why not run through your obstacle course again? Or maybe even try to jog your memory? If you do remember anything, let me know immediately._

Izuku sighed in disappointment after he had read All Might's text. He knew the man was busy but he was really hoping they'd be able to meet today.

The test for U.A. might be 9 months away, but Izuku wanted to get as far along with training his quirk as he possibly could before it.

But, it seemed today wasn't the day to start training with the number one hero. The greenette wasn't really in the mood to go through his obstacle course again - it was pretty boring at this point. Instead, he had listened to All Might's second suggestion and was on his way to investigate the building he last remembered being on before his disappearance.

"AIHH?!" He shouted in alarm as a hand suddenly grabbed onto his shoulder.

He immediately shook off the hand and lept away, turning to face his assailant.

"Huh?" He blinked in surprise as he stared at the bemused face of a cyan-haired girl.

"Hey! Hi! It's been like a week! And you never called me!" She pouted.

"H-huh?" Izuku stared at her confusingly.

"Huh? Do you really not remember me! You saved me remember! Did you hit your head? Oh! Did I give you amnesia when I fell on you?" She leaned forward to inspect his face.

Izuku nervously blushed "uh-uhm. What?"

'She's s-so close!' he thought.

The girl curiously blinked, "Wow. How often do you have girls fall onto you from the sky?" She teased.

"My name's Ne-ji-re Ha-do" she sounded out with a smile, "We met last week remember! I was flying and then fell and then landed on top of you!" She recalled, her hands vaguely animating the story.

Izuku blinked and raised his eyebrows in recognition "o-oh! Yeah, I remember! Sorry... it's been a hectic week!" He smiled at her.

Nejire beamed at him "Yay! I was worried I'd have to fall on you all over again! So, how did you go missing!? I've been going crazy thinking about it! Oh! And what's your name again?"

Izuku sweatdropped at her forwardness "Uh, Izuku Midoriya. It-its nice to meet you...again. sorry about not calling you, it really has been a hectic week" he shuffled his feet. "And u-uhm. I actually don't know how I went missing. I'm actually trying to figure it out now!"

"Huh? You don't know? What do you mean?" She looked at him confused.

"Uh, I just don't remember it. I was on a roof and then the next thing I knew was that I was in the hospital and a week had passed" he wasn't sure why he was telling the girl this.

Nejire blinked in astonishment "that's crazy?! Wow! So are you doing an investigation?" She seemed to become more excited.

Izuku furrowed his eyebrows "I...guess. Yeah? All Mi- I mean my...trainer...told me to go to places where I can jog my memory" he breathed a sigh of relief as he caught himself from revealing that he was learning under All Might. They hadn't discussed it but the greenette figured it would probably be best if he didn't publicly announce their situation.

"Trainer? What are you training for? A contest? A marathon?" She gasped as she recalled their earlier conversation, "are you training to become a hero?"

Izuku blinked in surprise 'I guess...well, she was the one who suggested it, now that I think about it. So it's not surprising she remembered'.

The greenette smiled "Actually yeah…" Nejire's smile got wider.

"wait, so you're on a quest to find your memories right now? Can I help? I wanna help! Where are we going?"

"U-uh. I was walking over to that building…" Izuku dumbfoundedly pointed over his shoulder.

"Oh? Is that where you disappeared? What were you doing there? It looks familiar! I think it was on the news but it was on fire" she exclaimed before zeroing down on him "did you start the fire?"

"Wh-what? No! The last thing I remember was being on that roof before I d-disappeared" he answered causing her to nod thoughtfully before an excited glint entered her eyes.

"H-huh?" He grunted in surprise as the girl suddenly took his hand and started to pull him away 'Sh-shes holding my hand!?' he thought in shock.

"Well come on! We're gonna solve a mystery! This is so exciting!" The girl started to pull him along.

"Oh okay?" Izuku just followed along confused, not really sure what else to do.

"Ooo a hat!"

XXXX

Nejire shook the handle to the door that would have led them to the roof of the building Izuku last remembered being on before his disappearance.

"It's locked!" She huffed in annoyance, a black detective hat sitting on her head.

"They must have locked it down while they worked on repairs," Izuku noted. "It would be weird for a bunch of kids to ask to get into the roof. They'd probably try to call our parents."

Nejire slowly nodded, a small frown on her face. Placing her arms across her chest, she turned to the greenette "so what do we do now, Watson?"

"Why am I Watson?" He muttered.

"I have the hat! So I'm Sherlock!" She pointed to her head causing Izuku smile in exasperation.

"R-right. Anyways... since it's locked we obviously can't get through the front door. Even if we wanted to ask for permission, I doubt we get it. Not to mention there wasn't any type of building manager or doorman downstairs for us to ask to let us through...breaking in is obviously not an option" he cupped his chin in thought.

Nejire hummed in thought before a lightbulb lit up above her head. "Oh! I know!"

"Huh?"

"We fly there!" She exclaimed.

Izuku blinked, recalling that she did mention that a couple of times.

"Oh yeah! Your quirk!" He grinned in excitement as she puffed up with pride. "You never told me about it! What is it? Is it just flight? Can you do more than just fly?"

Nejire smiled back, "Well, I would've told you about it if someone had remembered to call me" she hummed, causing Izuku to blush.

"S-sorry!" He sheepishly replied.

Waving him off, the cyan-haired girl continued, "It's called Wave Motion! It turns my vitality into energy that I shoot out! I can also manipulate it around my body! Which lets me float around and fly!"

Izuku's eyes sparkled in awe as he started the scribble in a notebook he had pulled out from his bookbag while she was talking. "Amazing…by vitality, I'm guessing you mean your stamina right? So that must mean as you use your quirk you must get tired, right? So most of the training you probably have to do is to build your stamina levels. That would increase your quirk's output. And you said you can shoot energy out? Like beams? That plus with your ability to fly must mean you're a mid to long-range specialist, with your flying ability being incredibly helpful in making you mobile" he muttered as he scribbled into his book as Nejire looked on blankly.

'h-he got all of that from my explanation?' she thought, feeling somewhat buried by his muttering.

"You'll probably excel at fighting big, but slow, villains by being able to keep them at bay from a distance while also easily avoiding thei-" Izuku felt something poke him on his nose, breaking his train of thought.

"Wow! You must really like quirks" she giggled. Izuku blushed at the contact.

"S-sorry!"

"Anyways! Want me to fly us up to the roof? I've never carried someone with me before but...I think I can definitely do it!"

"A-are you sure? Wouldn't we get in trouble since we're not Pro Heroes? And also, the last time...you fell" he said, causing her eye to twitch.

"Only because I got distracted! I have better control over it now!" She pouted. "And besides! I have a provisional license! So even if we get caught I'm sure they won't get too mad... probably" she explained.

Mirio, in his eagerness, begged U.A. to let them participate in the provisional licensing exams. She, him, and Tamaki barely managed to scrape through it even with their difficulties in controlling their quirks at the time.

Izuku frowned, not fully certain of the idea, "I...I mean, I don't want you to get into trouble".

Nejire waved him off, "I'm curious about you! I wanna know what happened to you too ya know!" She grabbed his hand again before marching back outside.

"W-Wait! Isn't flying onto a locked roof still breaking in?"

Nejire shrugged, her gait not the least bit slowed "We're not breaking anything! So nope!"

"B-but! It's still i-illegal?"

"Shh! Come along Watson! We've got a roof to get to! And a mystery to solve!"

Izuku sighed.

XXXX

Izuku bit back a scream as Nejire seemed to momentarily drop in the air.

"Sorry! Carrying someone isn't as easy as I thought!" Nejire nervously laughed and held onto him tighter.

The greenette's face suddenly did an award-worthy performance of a radiator 'We're s-so close…'

The cyan-haired high schooler had her arms around his stomach as they rose, somewhat shakily, up towards the top of the roof. Izuku had nearly fainted from nervousness when Nejire had wrapped her arms around him to lift them off.

"Wow! You're really warm again! I should keep you around for winter!" She chirped at him as she finally hovered above the rooftop.

"Ack!?" Izuku yelled as they suddenly dropped.

"Oof!" Nejire grunted as they collapsed onto the roof. "We've got to stop doing this" she giggled at the red face of the boy under her.

"Ye-yeah" he stuttered, his blush intensifying.

Standing up, Nejire stretched her arms out and let out a yawn "That was more exhausting than I thought it'd be. Guess I need to build up my stamina more" she tiredly mumbled to herself.

Looking around, she noticed the roof had an assortment of materials lying around them. Some scorch marks and piles of ash and soot dusting the area as well.

"Guess they were in the middle of fixing it huh!" She exclaimed.

Izuku nodded as he got up and took a look around.

"Yeah…this place is definitely familiar" he noted.

"So! Remember anything?" The girl asked him curiously.

Izuku frowned and shook his head, "No...not yet."

"What were you doing on the roof by yourself anyways?" She looked at him accusingly.

"I ran into All Might, he took- or I guess, I tagged along with him after he saved me from a villain. And we talked here"

Nejire's eyes widened in awe "You met All Might? What? When? What was he like? What'd you guys talk about? Are you two friends? Is he super strong? Oh! Did you find out why he makes rabbit ears with his hair? What type of product does he put in it?" She leaned over to him with her hands pulling up her bangs to resemble All Might.

Izuku stumbled back "o-oh um. Y-yeah. And...I don't know?" He replied, causing her pout in disappointment before standing up straight again.

"Hmm well! Maybe we should reenact what you do remember! You can be All Might! And I'll be you!" She tossed her detective hat to the side and started to ruffle up her long hair into a ball.

"Is this what you do every morning?" She asked, causing him to sweatdrop.

'My hair... doesn't really look that messy...right?' he thought before shaking his head.

"U-uh. Well...he said he had to go and then walked past me and out the door" he furrowed his eyebrows while retracing All Might's steps.

"And then...I? Stood there...for a while?" He muttered as Nejire adopted a thinking pose.

"This isn't as exciting as I thought it'd be" she mumbled as her hair dropped back down to her knees.

"And then...did I leave?" He walked over the roof's exit.

"There are scorch marks all over there!" The cyan-haired girl pointed out.

Looking down, he narrowed his eyes.

"It...looks like something blew up here?" Squatting down to the scorch marks, he reached out his fingers to touch it when he felt a phantom shock shoot through his arm.

"Ah!" He grunted in surprise.

"You okay?" Nejire asked in concern.

"Y-yeah" he, glancing at his hand before a memory shot through his mind.

"Wait...it was raining!" He recalled, stepping back to look at the sky.

"And there was...a lightning storm? And everything was...weird. Like...the lightning was dancing" his eyes widened as he remembered a bright flash.

Looking down as the scorch marks below him, he grasped onto the door handle.

"I was standing here! And then I looked up and…" he recalled a bright flash of light, "I think...lightning hit me? And then the next thing was...I woke up in the hospital?" He spoke in confusion.

"Huh? You were hit by lightning!? How did you survive?" Nejire asked in shock.

Izuku scratched his head "I don't know? And when they found me I didn't have any injuries that you would get from a lightning strike" he muttered.

Nejire stared at him blankly before walking up to him.

"...are you a ghost?" Izuku blinked in surprise.

Nejire lightly pinched his cheeks "You can't be a ghost right?"

"N-no?" He blushed.

Sighing in relief the cyan-haired girl hummed in thought "But then what happened in the next week? Oo this just got more confusing!"

"But I wonder...does my quirk have something to do with that lightning strike?" Izuku thought aloud.

"Eh? I thought you didn't have a quirk?" Nejire glanced at him in surprise.

"Oh!" He smiled apologetically "s-sorry, turns out I do! It just didn't show up until after I met you."

"What!?" Nejire gaped " and you said it might have to do with being hit by lightning? Is that possible?"

Izuku scratched his cheek "uh. Well. I guess it is now?"

Nejire just stared at him in absolute confusion before beaming at him "You're really interesting Izuku!"

Izuku blushed, "th-thanks?"

"You know! There was another freak lightning storm a week ago! I remember reading about it online!" Nejire suddenly recalled as a thoughtful look overtook her features.

"...yeah! Apparently, a lightning bolt struck the street and destroyed it! Do you think it has anything to do with you?" She exclaimed, causing Izuku to look at her curiously.

"Huh? Last week? Really?" He asked as she started to scroll through her phone.

"Yeah look!" She showed him her phone.

_Street Destroyed by Stray Lightning Bolt Last Night! _

Izuku furrowed his eyebrows 'but that's not possible...lightning hits the tallest point...it shouldn't be able to hit the street directly?' his eyes widened as he saw the date of the incident.

"Wait! That's when I was found!" He exclaimed.

Nejire's eyebrows shot up before she started to hop around in excitement. "Another lead! We should go now!" She hastily grabbed her discarded hat before dragging Izuku away with her once again.

"Wait? W-why are we going to the e-edge of the roof? I unlocked the do-AHH?!" Izuku yelled as Nejire wrapped her arms around him again and jumped off the roof.

He held onto her for dear life as she slowed their descent onto the ground.

"Th-that's...I... I fe-feel sick" he groaned.

Nejire giggled in amusement before grabbing the dazed boy by the hand again and running off in the direction of their next destination.

"Hey! Wait! You never told me about your new quirk!" She exclaimed, not slowing her pace in the slightest.

"... speed" he murmured.

"Huh?"

"I goo fasht" he slurred, still feeling a bit sick.

XXXX

"That's so cool! Everything really slows down around you?" Nejire asked in awe.

Izuku blushed "Y-yeah! It's a really cool feeling!" He admitted.

"So like if I do this!" She started to wave her hand across her face rapidly, "you just see it super slowly?"

Izuku nodded with a bemused smile "yup!"

"Wow, I bet you can dodge everything then!" She suddenly karate chopped him on the shoulder causing him to wince.

"Oh! Sorry I didn't mean to" she nervously apologized causing him to laugh a little.

"It's okay! I'm still getting used to it… but maybe one day, yeah! I'll be so fast no one can touch me!" He grinned at her and vibrated his hand at super-speed.

"That's so cool!" She admitted in awe.

'She called me cool!'

"Hey look! We're here!" She suddenly called out.

Izuku stopped as they reached their destination. They looked over the street that was featured in the article they saw.

It seemed that the street had been repaired, certain parts of it were darker in color - resembling newly placed asphalt.

"Mmm, do you remember anything yet?" Nejire glanced back at the boy.

Izuku frowned as he looked around. The area seemed somewhat familiar to him.

"A little? Not much? This place seems kinda familiar...even though I don't think I've been here before." He stared up at the cloudy sky above him and furrowed his eyebrows.

**Rumble**

"Sounds like it's gonna rain soon," Nejire muttered.

Izuku silently glanced over to the patches of new asphalt.

'Lightning struck there huh…' he winced as something pushed his shoulder, a sharp stinging sensation running through it.

"Outta my way!" A muscular figure suddenly shoved Izuku to the ground.

"Hey! Watch where you're going!" Nejire shouted at the man in annoyance.

"Tch, whatever brat!"

Izuku groaned as more images flashed through his head.

A vortex of energy, voices crashing around him. His mother calling out to him. A crackle of lightning.

Izuku's eyes widened as he remembered rushing through the streets, a trail of green lightning behind him, just before he crashed into a pile of trash and passing out.

"..ku? Izuku?" Nejire called out to him.

"H-huh?" He snapped back to reality.

"Are you okay?" Nejire asked worryingly as she leaned over him.

Izuku blinked "oh! Yeah!"

"That jerk, he just ran over you! I was gonna fight him if you hadn't fallen over!" She huffed in annoyance.

"It-its okay. I think I remembered something" he patted himself off as he stood up.

"Really!? What was it?"

"I think...the bolt of lightning was me"

"Uh...are you sure you're okay?"

Izuku nodded, "Yeah! I don't know where...but, I think...when I first got hit on the roof, I was taken somewhere. I don't remember much but it looked like...a vortex of some kind? And then I started running and the next thing I knew I was running from here and out towards the streets before I crashed" he theorized, "I do remember my mom saying something about how people found me in the trash…"

'Though…' his face scrunched in thought, 'I don't have lightning trailing behind me when I run...but... that's the only thing that doesn't match up?'

Nejire's eyes widened "We figured it out then! You were taken away by the lightning!" She paused "wait, that doesn't make any sense!" she frowned.

"That doesn't seem possible? And like, where did you go? Why did you come out a week later? You don't remember anything while you were in that vortex thingy?!" She questioned.

Izuku frowned and shook his head "not really, no."

Nejire dropped her head, her detective hat falling to the ground, "Every time we find something it just leads to more questions."

"S-sorry?" He apologized.

"Well," she straightened up and offered a smile to him, "guess that means I'm gonna have to stick around you!"

"H-huh?" Izuku blinked.

Nejire pouted, "aw, do you not want me around?"

"What? I-I didn't s-say that!"

"Yay! Now! Before I forget! Give me your number!" She smiled at him again, thrusting her phone in his face. "Otherwise you might forget to call me again!"

Izuku simply nodded, not sure what else to do "s-sure."

XXXX

"Fuck this thing!" The light pink-skinned man growled. The white vein-like structures lining his arms seemingly sparking.

He threw the device in his hand to the ground and stomped on it as bystanders curiously stared at him.

He was going out to grab something to eat when the device that the sketchy organization gave him started to beep again. He ran off towards the direction the digital compass on the device pointed towards and shoved his way through a bunch of people. Unfortunately, he only found his way back to that same street the device led him to a week ago before it stopped beeping again.

Annoyed, the man decided to just quit his job.

'Fuck Giren and his connections. This job is too goddamn boring. I'm gonna do something better with my time.' he internally grumbled.

'Better clear out before they notice I quit. Those people give me the creeps.' he thought before growling in annoyance, 'Don't have much on me right now though...maybe I should rob someone and then run for it. Might as well make the stay here worth it.'

He wasn't some high profile villain by any means. He was just low on cash and Giren set him up with this gig. But he really didn't have the patience to do whatever scouting work they wanted him to do. Especially since they didn't even tell him what to scout for. The machine was just annoying and led him to empty streets.

He wasn't cut out for this type of "high maintenance" villain work, he was just a petty thief.

'I should've just rejected the offer. Could've made way more money just by robbing a bank or something' he thought with frustration as he stomped back to his temporary residence.

He was gonna squeeze out something profitable from this city before leaving, but he had to plan first.

* * *

AN: Honestly, I just loving writing Nejire and Izuku scenes. Maybe I should start a drabble fic with them...hmm. Anyways, let me know what you think! Until next time.


	5. Chapter 5

AN: Yeah, I know. It's been a minute. I'm in the midst of a transitory period in my life (moving out and across the country!) So things have been fairly hectic.

And wow! While I was sorting out adult-stuff, this fic kinda blew up, relatively speaking. Compared to my past attempts at writing a fanfic (posted on an old account from years ago that I shall never speak of again) this is phenomenal! 1k follows? Thank you guys so much! I'm glad you're enjoying it so far!

So here's the next chapter. I'll save the rest of my rambling to the end so you can jump right into the story now. Thanks again to KyrosVasera for beta'ing!

Disclaimer: I don't own BNHA.

Without further ado…

* * *

Chapter 5:

Izuku glanced at his phone as several messages arrived.

_Nejire-chan: Hey! Hey! Did you remember anything new yet?_

_Nejire-chan: If you did you gotta tell me!_

_Nejire-chan: Btw, did you take my hat? I don't know where it went._

The green-haired teen smiled at his phone. It had been about two days since Nejire and he had gone searching for his memories. The girl took down his number and started to message him every day after school to see if there was an update.

_Nejire-chan: Did you know that flatworms can grow two heads!?_

That and to talk about whatever was on her mind. Which were a lot of random things.

Izuku didn't mind at all. He wasn't used to having friends. Ever since he was diagnosed as quirkless, the only experience he had with people around his age was them ignoring him or bullying him. Unsurprisingly, Katsuki Bakugo fit into both categories depending on his mood.

Izuku frowned as his explosive boy entered his thoughts. 'Kaachan has been glaring at me more harshly lately' the boy thought. He had been purposely avoiding his former childhood friend. Izuku didn't want to deal with his attitude. He'd never admitted it publicly before, but Bakugo seriously annoyed him. He couldn't even stand up for himself back when he didn't have a quirk, so he could never do anything about it. Until now.

If he were honest, he was tempted to fight back the last time Bakugo pinned him down after he discovered his speed, but he knew he didn't have a good enough control over his quirk to stand a chance then.

When he mastered activating his quirk, the green-haired teen was tempted to rebuke the explosive boy. But one glance at Bakugo's enraged eyes told him that even if he had fought back and won, his former friend would simply get even worse. So Izuku resorted to avoiding him altogether.

They were both aiming for U.A., Izuku would have plenty of chances to show Katsuki that he was no longer a "deku" once they got in.

Until then, he would focus on honing his speed.

'All-Might said he was finally free to start training me today! Oh! And I should probably update him on what Nejire and I found out,' Izuku thought to himself as he skimmed through Nejire's mini text rant about how flatworms were "creepy but also super cool." She must be bored.

XXXX

"You think you were struck by lightning?" Toshinori asked his new student in disbelief. The two were back on the beach and the greenette was recapping what he had remembered to the pro hero.

"Yeah, I think it might have something to do with how I got my powers. It's suspicious that I activated them right after the incident...I don't remember anything else though" Izuku frowned in thought.

Toshinori nodded, "Back when I studied in America, I heard of some theories about how quirks were created from freak accidents like that - of course nowadays we see it being a result of evolution. But maybe there is some merit to those theories." The blonde mused out loud. Internally, however, he was immensely relieved 'It seems it has nothing to do with All For One...I know I killed him, so that was impossible in the first place...but still, what a relief.'

Izuku nodded, "Oh! Uh, I also remember flashes of being in some kind of vortex? I don't remember, but maybe that has something to do with it" he shrugged, "Hopefully something comes up soon and we can find out more" he finished as Toshinori hummed in thought.

"All right, just keep me updated on anything you find out. Though, I guess we should go back to the real reason we're here today. We're starting our first training session!" The blonde crossed his arms over his chest before smirking at the greenette.

Izuku grinned in excitement "What's it going to be? How do we get started!?"

"You said you wanted to work on your reaction time right? How about I first get a measure for how fast you are first, that way I can adjust to your level and we'll go from there" Izuku's eyes widened in awe as the blonde suddenly transformed into his muscle form and flashed him his trademark smile.

'So cool!' he thought, his eyes gleaming. Pausing, he asked, "How do we do that?"

All Might grinned at Izuku before tapping him on the forehead "Young Midoriya! You're it!" He exclaimed before running away, leaving a trail of dust in his wake.

Izuku blinked in surprise before a small smile spread on his lips "Oh, you're on, All Might!"

XXX

All Might internally raised an eyebrow at how close Izuku was to catching up to him.

It had only been a few minutes since he started their little game of tag and he found the new quirk user to be very fast. And that's saying a lot coming from him. All Might was, after all, one of the fastest people on the planet.

Of course, All Might was not moving at his top speed, and considering he was severely weakened in his current state, it wasn't the most bizarre thing. At the moment, Izuku wouldn't be able to measure up to his younger self.

However, in his weakened present form, Izuku was surprisingly close to him in speed whilst holding back. It far exceeded his expectations and he found himself having to utilize his experience in maneuvering around at high speeds to avoid Izuku when he had gotten too close.

The blonde was now shifting towards training Izuku's response time, the kid was nearing his present speed, but was severely inexperienced in how to react with his super speed. For that reason, All Might had been focusing more on trying to trip up Izuku with his maneuvers, forcing the greenette to think on his feet as he ran.

In the long run, it should help the teen in quickly adapting to his environment and overall reaction time.

"Come on Midoriya! You're no better than a wildly charging bull right now! You have to think more carefully about your movements!" He shouted to the boy behind him.

Izuku was starting to feel pretty tired. He had started training his quirk himself, but he didn't know how to maximize his training time and the difference in All Might and his methods was very clear.

'I...definitely went...too easy on myself…' he thought. When he practiced his obstacle course, he often took breaks in between his runs to rest up. Until now, he hadn't used his quirk in such an extended period of time. 'I'm...getting really...tired' he started to gasp for air as he forced himself to chase after All Might.

'I have...to keep….goi-'' Izuku suddenly tripped as his quirk seemingly shut down, his body was flung forward from the momentum of his run.

All Might's eyes widened as he noticed Izuku trip and quickly caught the boy before he crashed into something.

"Midoriya!? You alright!?" He asked in alarm as he looked down at the boy in his arms.

"Zzzzz"

All Might sweatdropped, 'did you pass out?' he gently laid the boy down on the Sandy Beach. "I suppose your stamina is another thing for us to work on" the hero muttered to himself as he stared at Izuku with a small smile. Crouching down to the boy's level, he started to lightly pat him on the cheek.

"Hey, hey! Wake up, kid!"

"Ugh...what?" Izuku groggily muttered as he rubbed his eyes.

"You alright? You suddenly passed out in the middle of your run!"

Izuku's eyes widened "Wh-what? How?"

All Might laughed boisterously "Seems your body isn't prepared to fully handle using your quirk in such extended periods of time! We have to improve your stamina!"

Izuku tiredly nodded "Yeah, I do feel really tired...never ran for that long at once" he admitted in disappointment.

"Huh? Don't get so down Midoriya! You just got your quirk, this was to be expected" All Might smiled at him before continuing, "Besides! You're surprisingly fast despite just starting out!"

Izuku's blinked in surprise, "y-you think s-so?"

The blonde hero nodded and gave him a thumbs up "Yeah kid, you've got serious potential! Now that I know where you stand, we can start to work on a training regime to improve your abilities!

The green-haired teen nodded, determination shining in his eyes, "Thank you All Might! I'm ready for whatever you throw at me!"

He was going to get into U.A. and become a Hero. He would make sure of that.

XXX

Izuku groaned as he clamored up the steps to his apartment, All Might had let him rest for a little bit before pushing him to run for as long as he could before passing out. The blonde would then let him rest again for a little bit before doing it again. It was grueling, and Izuku wasn't sure if it was the best method to train his stamina if he was being honest.

Running until he passed out over and over again didn't exactly seem like the best strategy, but All Might was the number 1 hero, so he must know what he was doing, right?

Though, at the end of the training session, he could barely activate his quirk for more than twenty seconds before passing out. The blonde hero figured he was too spent to continue and was kind enough to offer him a lift back to his apartment.

"Izuku?! You look exhausted!" he heard his mom exclaim in worry as he stepped into his living room.

"Hey mom, sorry. Training with All Might took a lot more out of me than I thought it would," he admitted.

Inko nodded, "It's good you're being trained by him, but don't overexert yourself okay? Why don't you take a shower and I'll get dinner ready for you when you're done!"

Izuku nodded thankfully and did just that.

He nearly inhaled his dinner once he got out, to his mother's dismay.

"Izuku! Slow down! You're going to choke!"

"S-sorry mom!" he sheepishly smiled, he could immediately feel his energy returning as he ate, 'I should probably figure out a new diet to keep up with my quirk and training regime...that might also help with my stamina issue' he thought to himself.

_Vzzt_

Izuku glanced at his phone as it vibrated.

_Nejire-chan: Izuku! You never responded! Did you remember anything new? You gotta tell me if you did! We gotta solve the mystery!_

Inko glanced at her son curiously as he quickly typed on his phone with a small smile.

"A text from All Might?" she asked.

Izuku blinked "Oh - uh. Actually, it's from a friend" he admitted, suddenly embarrassed for some reason.

Inko tilted her head to the side 'Friend? Izuku has a friend!?' she thought in shock. As much as Inko would hate to admit it, Izuku didn't seem to have much interaction with other people his age - she knew it was because people tended to treat him poorly or as if he were invisible because of his former quirkless status. So she was happily surprised when he admitted that he texting a friend.

'It seems life is really turning around for you, Izuku' she thought with a happy smile before curiously asking, "So...who's this friend?"

Izuku blushed "um...well...remember that girl I drew...in my notebook? We uh, started to hang out? I guess? She helped me investigate what happened to me when I went missing".

Inko's eyebrows slightly rose in surprise before smiling at her son, "That's great honey! I'm happy for you! You should invite her over one day!" her son never had friends over before!

"oh...um, yeah, maybe…" The greenette stumbled over his words as she giggled.

XXX

After Dinner, Izuku retired to his room, taking the time to text Nejire back.

_Nejire-chan: All you did was train after school? Wow! That's pretty much all I did in school! What did you do? How did you train your quirk? Did you get any faster?"_

_Izuku: Yeah. My trainer just had me run for as long as I could before I passed out. Then, when I got up he made me do it again. _

_Nejire-chan: Oh! You pass out when you run! That's kind of like my quirk! When I use too much power, or fly too long, I get tired and take a nap! Sometimes I even start to float while napping!_

Izuku blinked in surprise. He had forgotten that her quirk was also stamina based. Maybe she could also give him tips!

_Nejire-chan: Hey! Hey! I have an amazing idea! How about we train together! One of my teachers is always complaining about how impractical my quirk would be if it keeps putting me to sleep!_

_Izuku: And Yeah! I was just thinking the same!_

_Nejire-chan: OMG yes! Are you free tomorrow!? Where do you normally train? I wish I could take you to U.A. but I don't think they'd let you in :(. Oh, wait! Is your trainer going to be mad if I join?_

_Izuku: I've been training on an abandoned beach, that might be a good spot? And he only trains me when he's free, he's not tomorrow so that could work. _

_Nejire-chan: A whole beach :o wow! Why was it abandoned? Where is it? When should we meet? Oh, I can't wait!_

Izuku smiled at his new friend's enthusiasm, genuinely starting to feel excited for tomorrow as well. He quickly texted her the details and a note that he was going to bed soon. He was really tired after today.

XXX

**The Next Day**

Nejire quickly started to pack her things after school ended. Her friends stared at her curiously as she hummed to herself.

"Hey Nejire, where are you off to in a hurry? Hanging out with Yuya?" Mirio asked.

"Nope! Yuya-chan's busy today! I'm going to the beach!" she exclaimed in excitement.

"...by yourself?" Tamaki raised an eyebrow.

"No silly! I'm going to train with another friend! He went missing for a week!" she chirped back.

The two boys tilted their heads in confusion, "He went missing?" Mirio questioned.

"Yep! He got hit by lightning, went to some magical vortex thing, got a quirk, and grew like seven inches when he came back!" she explained nonchalantly before resting her pointer finger on her cheek, "Well, at least, that's what we think happened. He doesn't really remember anything"

Mirio and Tamaki blankly looked at her, "what".

Nejire nodded "I know! He's really interesting! And now every time he runs he passes out so we're going to train at the beach!"

"What?"

"Anyways, I gotta go. Bye guys!" she skipped to the door and waved at them.

"Nejire is hard to keep up with sometimes" Tamaki noted.

"Yep. Wait! She's going to train without us?!" Mirio exclaimed before grabbing Tamaki by the shoulders. "We gotta keep up with her! C'mon Tamaki! Let's go to the gym!"

"Huh?"

XXXX

"Izuku! I'm here!" The green-haired teen raised his arms across him to brace himself for an impact as Nejire practically flew towards him like a comet.

"Hah! You didn't think I was going to fall on you for the third time, did ya?" she giggled at him as she managed to stop just in time.

Izuku lightly blushed and coughed "We-well...It seemed like it…" he admitted, causing her to pout.

"Well, I'm here now! So let's get started!" she pumped her first up.

"Y-yeah!"

"So how are we going to do this?" The blunette asked him curiously.

"Well...I was wondering if you could tell me about how you trained, and then maybe we can think of ways we can do it together!"

"Hmm, well, at school. One of my Sensei just made me do a lot of endurance training - oh! Like jogging and things like that without my quirk. He said that as a Hero, I also had to be more fit without my quirk. And if my base level improved, my quirk would also get better!"

Izuku nodded, that made sense "So what type of endurance training did you do?"

Nejire hummed, "Well, he once tied a piece of steak to me and made some dogs chase after me, but I also have my own routine that I made with the teachers."

Izuku blinked 'Are all U.A. training methods that intense?' he thought.

The blunette hovered around for a moment "Well, we don't have dogs, so how about we just stick to physical training! Like running laps along the beach and all that! By the way...why is this place so dirty?" she waved around them, noticing the heaping pile of trash strewn across the beach.

"The currents wash debris here, and some people decided to throw trash out here since it all blends in" the greenette frowned, "I thought about cleaning the place up once I got a better handle on my speed...since I could do it in a flash that way. Until then, I've actually been using some of it as an obstacle course" Izuku pointed to a small section of the beach where the obstacle course was.

"Wow! That's so cool! I wanna help too!" Nejire exclaimed as Izuku nodded in appreciation.

"Well, until we come up with a better plan...do you want to teach me your endurance routine, and then we can do it together?" Izuku offered, causing her to smile.

"Yeah! We're gonna become super strong this way!" she pumped her fist up into the air.

The two teens grinned at each other before Nejire started to list out her routine. The two started to brainstorm ways they could adapt it to work on a beach before getting started.

XXX

An hour later, the two were exhausted. It was roughly 5 pm now, the sun was going to set in the next hour or two.

"Phew! I could go to bed right here!" Nejire admitted as she laid out on the sand, lightly panting.

Izuku nodded, also sprawled out on the beach, too exhausted to even speak at the moment. 'This is what she does regularly?!'

"Izukuuu, I'm huuungry!" the blunette yawned out.

The greenette's stomach suddenly grumbled causing her to giggle, "yeah...me too I guess" he blushed.

"Is there anything good to eat around here? Ooooh, I could do with some Yakitori right now!"

Izuku carefully lifted himself off the beach and sat up, taking care to rub off any sand that had stuck onto him. "I know a place not too far off if you wanna grab some food? I should probably text my mom first though,"

"Yes! Let's go" Nejire shot up in excitement as she ran over to grab her things.

After shooting a quick text to his mom, Izuku did the same. Pausing to glance over the horizon as the sunset.

"It's a shame the beach is so cluttered...It'd be really pretty here if it weren't" he admitted.

Nejire hummed in agreement, "Well, I guess that just means we'll have to make sure to clean the beach!"

Izuku nodded and the two smiled at each other.

"Well c'mon! I'm really hungry and I want some Yakitori right now!" the blunette hopped up and down.

Laughing a little, Izuku motioned for her to follow him.

XXX

Alarms blared as a light pink skinned man rushed out of an ornately decorated building.

"Shit shit shit" he shouted as he ran through the street, a bag of cash heaved over his shoulder.

"FUCK, the alarms weren't supposed to sound this quick" he swiveled his eyes around, searching for a quick escape route. 'The cops or heroes are going to get here any second, gotta get out of here!' he thought as civilians started to quickly clear away from him.

"Stop right there you villain!" a deep voice rumbled out from behind him.

"Hey look! It's Death Arms! He'll make quick work of that thief!" the villain heard someone call out near him.

Quickly turning, the villain grit his teeth as he took sight of a muscular tan-skinned man with a square jaw. 'Shit, he got here so quickly.'

"Surrender now thief, you've got nowhere to run." Death Arms ordered.

"Like hell I will! I'm not going to rot away in prison anytime soon!" the pink-haired man growled. He had to figure out how to get out of here.

"Well, guess I'll have to drag you there myself" the hero tensed in preparation.

The villain gnashed his teeth and started to break off into a run again.

"Oh no, you don't!" Death Arms chased after him, causing the pink-skinned hero to curse before he looked on ahead and an idea popped in his head.

"Mommy, I'm really tired, are we almost home?" a little girl rubbed her eyes as she walked alongside her mother.

"Don't worry Akane-chan, we're almost there" the woman reassured her daughter.

"Sorry kid, but you're coming with me!"

"Akane-chan!" the mother called out in horror as the pink-skinned villain suddenly grabbed her daughter and put some distance between them.

"You bastard!" Death Arms growled as he leaped towards the villain and tried to land a punch.

BAM

Only to miss. The villain unnaturally bent his body away from his fist - causing him to break open the fire hydrant behind the thief, causing water to spout out and coat the street around them.

Jumping away, the villain turned around with a manic grin on his face, the villain momentarily dropped his bag of cash as he tightened his hold on his hostage with one arm and raised his other hand to her head.

"Mommy!" she cried out.

"Let her go!" Death Arms demanded.

"Nah, I don't feel like it...how about I fry her instead" the white veins on the villain's arms started to glow as sparks started to crackle around his hands.

"Akane!" the mom shouted in fear.

Death Arms clenched his fists as the villain taunted, "Now now, we don't want her cute little face being burnt to a crisp here, now do we?"

"She has nothing to do with this! Let her go!"

"Yeah, and how about I turn myself in while I'm at it. God, you heroes are so stupid," the sparks around the villain's hand grew more intense, causing the girl to whimper.

"Even if you don't let her go now, the cops will be here any moment along with other heroes, you have no escape!" the hero argued, causing the villain to grit his teeth.

'He's right, I need to get away from them now…' the thief thought, 'I can keep the girl until I get out of the city, she'll make a good hostage.'

Glancing down at the street, the villain smirked as he noticed the large puddle that had formed between him and the hero.

"It's in your best interest to return the girl and surrender now, you'll only get a harsher sentence from this point on - let her go," Death Arms demanded again.

The villain grunted, "You're really annoying you know that? You've spent all this time talking crap and didn't even notice the position you're in" he spoke as Death Arm's eyes narrowed.

"What are you talking ab-ARGH" he screamed in pain as electricity seemed to run through his body, the villain had suddenly placed his hand on the puddle of water that the fire hydrant formed between them and seemingly channeled electricity into it. The mother and daughter shouted in fear as Death Arm's body smoked and he collapsed to the ground, knocked out.

"Idiot" the villain grunted as he picked up his bag of cash, "Hey lady, I think I'm gonna keep your daughter for a bit, she'll make a great hostage haha!" The girl's eyes widened in fear and she started to try and squirm out of his hold.

"N-no, please! I won't tell anyone where you've gone! Just give her back!" the mom begged.

The villain laughed 'Sorry! But I'm gonna need to keep her as a shield!." He lifted the girl over his shoulder and started to run off.

"No! Akane! Somebody p-please save her!" the mother called out.

Suddenly a gentle breeze whisked past her.

"Wh-what!?" The villain turned around in shock as he felt someone snatch away the girl from his hold.

"Are you okay?" The girl hesitantly opened her eyes to look up at her savior. She gasped softly as she found herself in the arms of a green-haired teenager.

"Are you hurt anywhere?" Izuku asked in concern as he gently let her down.

XXX

"N-no" she admitted, causing him to sigh in relief.

"Thank you!" The mother enveloped her daughter in a desperate hug, causing Izuku to smile. "You both should get out of here, get help if you can!" he said before he turned to face the villain.

"Wh-what?!" the thief gaped, "H-how? I didn't even…" he was just holding the girl a second ago! How did she get back over there? And where'd the kid come from?!

"Death Arms!?" Izuku shouted in surprise as he noticed the downed hero. How did he get knocked out?

He and Nejire were just leaving the restaurant they were dining at. He offered to walk her back to the bus station since it was on the way to his apartment when they noticed a commotion a few blocks away from them. A bunch of civilians were hurriedly making their way away from the area and Izuku heard whispers of a villain taking a girl hostage. Much to Nejire's shock, and awe, Izuku suddenly vanished. The next thing the green-haired teen knew was that he had scaled the distance in seconds and had rescued the young girl.

'Shit, this is bad. I lost my leverage...if the cops come now I'm screwed' the villain thought, 'Should I stay and fight? Or make a run for it...yeah. This is no time to screw around' he tightened his hold on his stolen goods 'Gotta get the hell outta here!'

Izuku's eyes widened as he noticed the villain about to run, 'W-what should I do? Should I f-fight him? I wasn't thinking when I grabbed the girl but...should I...stop him? Can I?' he hesitated as he once again looked at Death Arm's incapacitated body. Unknowingly, he activated his quirk, and time slowed down.

'He took him down somehow, if he could take down a pro...what chance do I have?' he looked back at the mother and daughter pair, 'At least they're safe now...but...he's probably panicking right now...which means he might resort to even worse methods to try and keep himself safe.' the green-haired teen grit his teeth 'If I let him go now...he might even do something worse before anyone else can catch him.'

Taking a deep breath, Izuku tried to settle his nerves. He tensed 'I have to stop him here, even if I can't take him down...I can at least slow him down until more help gets here, right?' exhaling, Izuku readied himself 'I can't hesitate, just have to run.' and with that, he shot off as time resumed.

"Agh? What the fuck!?" The pink-skinned villain growled as he felt someone punch him in the back, he was just in the middle of running off.

"S-sorry. I-I can't let you g-go!?" Izuku gulped nervously as he raced away to a safe distance from the villain. 'I definitely landed a solid hit on him, but the punch felt weird...like it sank into him? At the speed I was going, I should have pushed him back a bit...but he just stumbled. What kind of quirk does he have, some kind of shock absorption?'

"You bastard?! What the hell do you think you're doing you brat?!" white sparks started to come off the villain's body.

Izuku grit his teeth 'Is that how he knocked out Death Arms? I can't hit him directly or I'll risk shocking myself. But seriously, what kind of quirk gives him shock absorption and electricity manipulation?'

'This kid is fast, he'll be able to keep tailing me if I just run' the villain thought in annoyance, 'I'll have to knock him out here and then make a run for it,' he dropped his bag of cash and rushed towards Izuku "You shoulda minded your own business brat, now I'm gonna kick your goddamn ass!"

The greenette's eyes widened as he dodged a swipe at his head, and then deftly rolled away before a sparking low kick nicked him.

'AHH?! Oh crap oh crap! I don't know how to fight?!' he thought in panic as he kept avoiding the man's attacks as best he could. Guess some of his training paid off. But he still wasn't sure how to fight back, especially since he didn't want to risk getting shocked and knocked out.

"Stop fucking dodging!" the villain roared at him and sent a right hook. Time slowed for Izuku as he activated his speed.

Talking a sigh of relief, he quickly stepped out of harm's way. 'Maybe...yes! If I keep him occupied somebody will come by and help!' he thought in determination.

The next few seconds showed Izuku, aided by his super-speed, deftly dodging every attack aimed at him.

"You...bastard…" the pink-haired fiend growled.

"W-what's wrong? Wh-why so slow?" Izuku tried to taunt and internally cringed. 'I...I should get better at that…' Fortunately, it seemed to work despite his delivery as the villain gained a tic-mark and angrily attacked him, his attempts becoming more sloppy.

'Maybe I can take him down by myself...he seems to be getting tired' he thought as a bead of sweat slid down his face 'But...I'm not too far away from my limit either…I can't attack him directly. And even if I could, he has a high level of shock absorption...what to do' he contemplated.

Ducking under another haymaker, Izuku frowned 'It seems it's just going to be a stamina battle at this rate...I hope somebody comes to help soon. I don't know if I can beat this guy by myself.'

"Nejire wave!" as if Izuku's thoughts were heard, a spiralized ray of energy flew between him and the villain. Unfortunately, the villain managed to jump back in time to avoid it.

"Nejire!" Izuku called out in relief as we spotted the blue-haired girl floating near Death Arm's body.

"Izuku! Are you okay?!" Nejire asked in concern.

"Y-yeah! I'm good" he replied, causing her to sigh in relief.

"Don't run off so suddenly like that again!" she pouted at him.

"S-sorry! My body just moved on its own!" Izuku nervously apologized.

"Wow, you really are dumb, kid!" Izuku gasped as a fist suddenly embedded himself into his stomach.

"AHHH" he shouted in pain as an electric shock ran throughout his body and sent him back several feet and into a wall.

"Izuku!" Nejire called out in worry but didn't have time to check on him as the villain rushed towards her.

'Shit, another one?! Where the fuck do all these brats keep coming from? I gotta take her down too….I'm running out of time!' the villain thought in a panic.

Shaking his head, Izuku groaned as he slowly got up, "Nejire?!" he shouted in worry as he saw the girl trying to blast the villain with her energy waves.

'Her waves can knock someone out if she manages to hit them…' Izuku recalled from one of the conversations he had with her about her quirk, 'but they're too slow to hit him…' he grimaced as he got up, his body still feeling raw. 'If I can distract him, she could get a hit in, but I still can't touch him or he'll shock me again…' he thought.

'You bitch! Get down here' The villain roared as he tried to reach Nejire, who was flying above him. 'Any second now...the damn pigs are going to be here...I gotta knock these two out and get the hell out NOW' he internally growled as sirens started to blare around the corner of the block.

"Freeze! You're surrounded! Surrender now!" police cars swerved into the scene.

"Fuck!" the villain cursed out loud.

"Deactivate your quirk! And put your hands in the air now!" officers started to come out of their vehicles and aim at the villain.

'That pompous ass said to use this if I ever ran into trouble...can't believe I'm using it like this.' he quickly downed the pill and clenched his fists.

"What...what did he do?" Izuku and Nejire watched on in confusion. The green-haired teen's body was spasming and preventing him from making large movements.

The white vein-like structures around the villain's arms started to spark intensely before suddenly ripping out of his arms and floated around him.

"Agh! Fuck?! What the hell is this?!" he growled in pain.

Nejire watched on in horror 'What? What did he-" she narrowly dodged a whip from one of the now loose veins 'this is so gross!?'

'Hurts like a bitch, but this might be exactly what I need!' the villain thought as he grit his teeth. The vein-like appendages sparked dangerously as he whipped them around and started to shock some of the police officers.

'His quirk...what? Could he always do that or was that because of the pill?!' Izuku thought in shock. Forcing his body to stand despite the protest of his muscles, he hesitantly took a step forward 'I have to do something!'

Nejire's eyes widened as she quickly twisted to the side to avoid a whip of the appendage.

"You're going down now!" the villain roared, wincing in pain as parts of his skin seemed to turn gray and peel off.

Izuku stumbled closer and he 'His power seems to be hurting him too? Or...wait' the greenette's eyes widened as he noticed the puddle of water that the villain was standing on seemed to shrink.

'The water from the fire hydrant! It couldn't have evaporated that quickly!' Izuku thought.

"Kid, you gotta get out of here! Are you hurt?" an officer called out to him.

"N-no, wait. I can help!" Izuku winced as he lifted his arm, 'Gotta help...Nejire.'

Meanwhile, said girl was narrowly dodging the villain's whips in the air 'I can't keep this up...my beams are too slow to hit him, especially if I don't have the time to aim!'

She felt herself tiring, school and training with Izuku had drastically reduced her reserves, she didn't know how long she could stay in the air. Any moment now, she would collapse, and that'd be the end.

Shakily, Nejire kept dodging in the air 'Where are all the other heroes?!' she thought faintly she had mere seconds now.

Izuku grit his teeth as his body ached in pain and desperately activated his quirk. Holding his arm out, he began rotating it at high speeds.

"I'M GONNA KI-GAH!" The villain shouted in surprise as a torrent of air seemingly blasted into him.

Izuku panted and fell to his knees. 'I...did it.' He didn't know if that'd work. He remembered how All Might often would use air pressure by forcefully swiping to attack, he obviously didn't have the strength to do the same thing. However, he did have speed - and so he had spun his arm rapidly and generated a wind force strong enough to blast the villain away from Nejire and out of the puddle of water formed by the broken fire hydrant. Nejire sighed in relief before turning to the now yelling villain.

"crap!? What's happening to me?" The villain shouted in horror as his skin started to gray and flake off even quicker.

Nejire bit back the bile rising up her throat as she floated back down to the ground.

Wordlessly, she raised an arm, and directed the last of her energy at the villain in a wave, finally knocking him out.

The two teens tiredly smiled at each in triumph before they both collapsed from exhaustion.

XXXX

"Mirio Togata, huh?" Toshinori muttered in thought, a picture of a young blonde boy in his hands.

"Yes! He's one of our up and coming students. He had quite a few issues with his quirk last year, but he has shown tremendous improvement this year!" A small bear-mouse creature chattered off. This was Nezu, the principal of U.A. "To be honest, the young lad's eccentricities sometimes reminds me of you. Certainly, someone to consider as the next Symbol of Peace."

The number 1 hero nodded as he contemplatively looked at the picture, "he looks like he's got great potential."

"Should I set up a meeting between you two?" Nezu offered.

"No...not yet. I would like to get to know him as his teacher first, then I'll make a decision" Toshinori thanked the principal and handed the photo back.

"Understood All Might, let me know if you need anything else!"

"Errr... actually. I was wondering. Do you know anything about speed-based quirks?" All Might asked curiously.

"Hoh? Well, what do you mean by that, exactly? Like a fast runner?"

"Uh, something like that...I met someone, a kid, he managed to make me agree to train him. Except, I've never really seen or heard of a quirk like his."

Nezu tilted his head in curiosity, "So what about his quirk is strange to you?"

Toshinori sighed as he rubbed the back of his neck, "Well for starters, he was quirkless up until he was struck by lightning. Since then, he could move at superspeed, he can even see the world in slow motion."

"How curious...sounds like he truly has a super-speed quirk" Nezu noted.

"Erm, yeah. That's what I said?"

"Indeed, but I mean that it seems his quirk is more than just being fast. To my knowledge, there has never been someone with the ability to slow down time just because they were fast. Usually, it'll be because someone has increased strength, like you. Or some other byproduct of a different quirk, like how I've heard a member of the Tenya family can run fast due to a built-in engine in his leg. It seems your young student can utilize super-speed in every instance of himself. That, as far as I know, is unique" Nezu admitted, before his ears perked up, "and you said this quirk appeared only after he was struck by lightning?"

All Might nodded, a little stooped by the lecture, Midoriya seemed more interesting than he originally thought.

"How odd, I've never heard of a quirk activating like that. But I suppose in a world where we have superpowers, anything is possible" the mouse-bear principal shook his head, "Anyways, what exactly did you want to know?"

"Well, since I started training him from time to time, I just wanted to know if there was anything that I should know about how other speed-based were trained. But if he's really that unique, then I guess that won't be very useful."

"Oh, I wouldn't say that, I'm sure there's plenty he could apply from similar quirks, even if they're not the same. Why not ask your former teacher? Gran Torino should be helpful" Nezu offered, causing All Might to cough nervously.

"Y-yeah, I thought about that...out of curiosity though, did any speed quirk users have problems with staying conscious while using their quirk? He seems to pass out when he uses it for a long time. It's kinda weird. I thought it was a stamina issue, but he doesn't seem like he's fully out of energy when he's about to pass out, so I thought it might have been something else?"

Nezu hummed, "well, if he's able to utilize super-speed almost like a cloak around him, maybe it has something to do with how his body is processing everything?"

"Huh? What do you mean?" All Might asked in worry.

"Sometimes if you stand up too quickly, your vision starts to fade because your body is unprepared to pump the required amount of blood to your brain in time. Perhaps your student is experiencing something similar where if he uses his power, his body isn't able to properly keep him conscious during extended use of it. To be honest, it could be any number of things." Nezu explained.

All Might blinked in surprise, he hadn't thought of that! "S-so what should we do!? That can't be good for him in the long run right?"

Nezu smiled at All Might, "We can have Recovery Girl take a look at him and run tests if he'd be open to it. Truthfully, I'm now interested in this student of yours. I didn't think you would take on an apprentice so early...are you considering him to be your successor?"

The number one hero crossed his arms "The kid's got potential, I'll give him that. I would be lying if I said that the thought didn't cross my mind, but I want to wait and see and also meet other candidates as well. Since he just got his quirk, he's preoccupied with understanding it, so I think it's too early for me to decide on him anyways."

Nezu nodded in understanding, "Well if you'd like, I'd be happy opening U.A.'s doors to him to see what his problem with his quirk really is."

"Thank you, sir, I'll let him know when I see him next!"

XXXX

"Oh? What a useful quirk" a woman with blonde hair that reached just above her chin noted to herself as she watched the news. She had reptilian eyes and noticeably sharp teeth. This was Ryukyu, the Dragoon hero. She was currently watching a video on her computer screen.

Some criminal went nuts in Musutafu, and it was none other than a pair of children that managed to stop him. The whole fight wasn't filmed, but a news crew was able to get footage of the young blue-haired woman knocking out the villain with a wave of energy before she passed out in exhaustion.

'She looks like a high schooler, I wonder if she's in a hero course? Her abilities would be very helpful in fighting the type of villains I specialize in…' Ryukyu thought to herself. It's been a hot minute since she took on a new sidekick, and she would be lying if the blue-haired girl didn't interest her.

Copying the link to the video, she messaged it to one of her sidekicks to see if they could find out any information on the girl.

XXX

"Woah! Look! Nejire's on the news!" Mirio exclaimed in awe, his face pressed into a glass window as he looked at the TV behind it.

"So much for a beach day" Tamaki muttered as when watched the recap of Nejire knocking out the villain with the help of some green-haired kid, "She's really improved since last year."

"Yeah! It's amazing! But, hey, who's that guy? Is that the friend she mentioned?" Mirio asked aloud, causing the dark-haired boy to shrug. "He seems pretty interesting! And did you see that airstream thingy he made! That was hella powerful!"

"Oh no…" Tamaki muttered.

"I just gotta fight him!" Mirio exclaimed in excitement.

Tamaki sighed, "I figured you would say that…"

"Oh come on Tamaki! I know you're interested in the guy too!"

The dark blue-haired teen shrugged, "Didn't Nejire say he was struck by lightning? He seems to be surrounded by bad luck..."

"Well, I think we gotta bug her to let us meet him! She also has to tell us what went down with that pink villain! It's totally not fair she got to fight a villain before she even got a work-study! We have to catch up!" Mirio grinned in excitement causing his childhood friend to sigh.

XXX

"...Izuku? Izuku?" the green-haired speedster groaned as he opened his eyes. Blinking quickly to wipe away the bleariness in his vision, he nearly had a heart attack when he noticed two royal blue eyes curiously blinking at him very close to his face.

"AH?!" he banged his head upwards in surprise and accidentally headbutted Nejire in the forehead.

"Owie!/Agh" the two teens nursed their heads and groaned.

"Izuku! You're awake!" Izuku felt someone tightly hug him.

"M-mom? W-what's going on?" he asked, still reeling from the headbutt.

"Oof, Izuku, you have such a hard skull" Nejire was lightly rubbing the new bump on her forehead.

"S-sorry! You kinda spooked me!" he blushed in embarrassment, causing her to giggle.

"But...are we in the hospital? Wait! Where'd that villain go?!" the green-haired teen looked around in alarm.

His mother pulled away from her embrace and sniffled, "You passed out, so the authorities brought you to the hospital. They caught that evil man, everything is fine now" she answered.

"Yeah! Our training paid off! We took down a villain Izuku!" Nejire hopped around in excitement.

Inko let out a small smile and turned to the blunette, "Nejire woke up before you, and I got to meet her just as I arrived here. She filled me in on everything that happened."

Turned back to her son, she frowned, "But you were so reckless Izuku! Why did you risk your life like that! I know you want to be a hero but you haven't even started a hero program yet. Despite that, you still ran off without thinking!" Izuku flinched at his mother's patronizing gaze.

"S-s-sorry, Mom. My body just moved...I had to save that girl…"

Inko sighed, "I know son...but, please, don't do anything reckless like that anytime soon. You're still getting used to your quirk and...you don't need to be a hero right now. There are others that can do it for you until you're ready" she lightly ruffled her son's hair, "But I...I'm proud of you...You're one step closer to your dream!" she let out a small smile.

Izuku felt his eyes tearing up slightly and nodded "I'll be more careful from now on."

Nejire awkwardly stood off to the side, not really sure what she should be doing. Inko then turned to her and smiled at her again, "Thank you again for helping my son! I'm glad he has a friend like you!"

Blushing slightly in embarrassment, the girl nodded, "Y-yeah! Anytime!"

After a few moments, a doctor came by and checked up on Izuku, seeing he was fully recovered, he was let go. Before they could leave, however, the police interrogated him for his side of the story. Though he was berated for using his quirk in public, the authorities decided to let it slide so long as he promised not to do it again. Nejire was praised for her help, seeing as she was acting lawfully since she had a provisional hero license.

Afterward, the trio stepped out of the hospital and Inko started to lead them to her car.

"It's getting late Nejire, your parents must be worried, How far do you live? We can drop you off?" Inko offered.

"O-oh. I um...Well, I'm...I actually stay at an orphanage not too far…" the blunette admitted as she looked down at her feet, causing the mother to internally wince.

Izuku glanced at Nejire in surprise before turning back to his mom, "Mom, uhm...c-could we have a sl-sleep o-over? I think Nejire should stay with us after everything that happened" he asked, causing Nejire to snap her head up and look at him in shock.

Inko smiled and nodded, "I think that's a great idea Izuku, we can set up an extra bed for her. And I can cook us up something delicious! What do you think, Nejire?"

The girl, uncharacteristically quiet, looked at the mother and son in surprise before hesitantly speaking, "Oh...I don't want to be a bother…"

"Of course not!" Izuku grinned at her, causing her to smile. "C'mon, Mom's an amazing cook! It'll be fun!" Inko smiled and nodded in agreement.

Nejire beamed at them and nodded happily, "I'd love to in that case!" The trio started to make their way to Inko's car when Izuku had a revelation.

'Wait...oh crap!? I'm inviting a girl over to my house? For a sleepover? Izuku?! What the heck? She's gonna see my room?!' he panicked internally.

XXX

"It seems he went rogue and got caught, sir" a man in a lab coat nervously reported to a suited figure.

"Did he know anything important?"

"No! Of course not, I kept him in the dark...and in any case...h-he took the pill."

The suited figure leaned forward in interest, "Oh? And?"

"Based on the witness reports, it seems it worked successfully...for a moment. However, in addition to improving his quirk drastically, it seemed his weakness increased in severity as well."

"A shame, more importantly, is he still alive?"

"N-no...like the other subjects, his body destroyed itself. It seems his cells degraded. Which was ex-expected."

"Good. Then we are in no danger."

The man in the lab coast exhaled in relief, "So, then...should I send out another person to investigate the energy reading?"

The suited man waved his hand in dismissal, "No, even if there's nothing point to us, Musutafu will be under increased surveillance due to the man's strange death, especially if they tie it to the drug. We do not want to bring attention to ourselves right now, especially since All Might has been spotted in the area several times now. Whatever the cause of that energy burst, we can deal with it if it proves to be a problem. Redirect your efforts into reattempting the experiment. That is more important."

With a bow, the man in the lab coat turned to leave.

* * *

AN: oookay. We got some action! Yay!

Some of you might be annoyed with the OC villain. I get it, OCs aren't always fun. I was thinking very seriously about who I wanted to take his place, but I knew that ultimately his character wasn't going to be super important. So why would I waste that role on a DC or BNHA villain? That wouldn't do them any justice!

So instead I had a little fun and created my own quirk for a one time villain. Moving forward, this won't happen again in any major way. So if OCs aren't your thing, don't be too alarmed after this chapter. They won't play major roles. But if you have a quirk idea you'd like to see happen, feel free to send it my way.

A synopsis of the villain's character is posted at the bottom of this note. Feel free to look at it.

In other news, Izuku learned more about his powers, had a training session with All Might. And I lightly touch on the possibility of Izuku inheriting one for all.

I've gotten mixed responses about this possibility. But fear not, this story was planned with Izuku not inheriting OFA. It just wouldn't make sense. Why bother giving him super-speed in the first place if I gave him OFA too? All Might is considering Izuku at the moment, but not as someone who is more qualified than any of the other possible candidates. I don't plan for him to inherit it. That being said, I haven't fully decided what I should do with it. I've got a number of possible scenarios. But to be honest, the existence of OFA doesn't fit in my plan in any way outside of being All Might's quirk. Crazy! Given that's the focus of the original story.

I'll figure something out.

In the next chapter we'll see Izuku meeting Mirio and Tamaki! I know some of you wanted to see a timeskip into the U.A. entrance exam... didn't happen this chapter. Sorry. But it's coming up very soon. I promise. Anyways, see ya next time! I'll try not to have such a big delay moving forward...

The Pink-Skinned Villain:

Name: Kuro Nomura

26, Male

Quirk: Stun-Fish!

His body is like a jelly fish! He can absorb physical blows and twist his body into odd angles. He becomes more fluid-like depending on how much moisture his body has. On rainy days, he basically turns into a humanoid blob of jelly. Like a jelly fish, he can sting his targets through physical contact. Interestingly enough, he also generates small amounts of bio-electricity when trying to sting someone. Maybe one of his parents had an electric eel-like quirk?

Power: 3/5

Intelligence: 2/5

Speed: 2.5/5

Technique: 2.5/5

Cooperativeness: N/A

**[Drug Enhanced]**

Power: 3.2/5

Intelligence: 2/5

Speed: 3/5

Technique: 3.5/5

Cooperativeness: N/A


	6. A Note

Yo!

This fic isn't being abandoned don't worry.

I originally planned to have a chapter out today. It was already written, and was the longest of any chapter I had written so far but...it doesn't feel very right.

So I decided to completely rewrite it. Although it isn't a bad chapter, I think it could be much better. Rather than have you all be confused on when the next update was coming, I figured that I would post this so you know my plans.

I've been trying to get into a two week release cycle. Would have started it if I actually posted the chapter today but...yeah. But moving forward, this is what I want to get into. This also means that I will be trying to make my chapter longer than the previous ones have been (from 6-7k words to now about 10k+ words) in order to make up for it.

I am not sure when I'll be done with rewriting the recent chapter and when I'll post it (goal is within two weeks from now). I also want to rethink a little about where I want to go with some of the characters and plot. I've had a few new ideas that I don't think have ever been done before, so I'm also taking time to sort that out and see if it's better than what I already had planned out.

This also means that I'd be open to whatever suggestions you all may want to see happen in this fic - whether if it's a just a fight or simply an event between characters. I obviously can't guarantee I'd do them, but this site is heavily based on readers' suggestions. And so, I want my fic to embody that a bit and be open to some of your opinions.

Again, sorry about the delay, but I really want to do my best when it comes to this fic. Thanks for understanding!


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